The Marauders First Year
by 5423789
Summary: Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin have their own adventures at Hogwarts. The Marauders have their own story to tell. This is The Marauders Era at Hogwarts.
1. I: Introduction

**All rights remain.**

A young boy sat under the biggest tree in the yard with a book in one hand and a fresh green apple in the other. He had his father's blue eyes and his mother's kind spirit and despite that seemed to have been the only thing the young boy inherited from his parents.

The boy was a very quiet and shy child who rarely spoke to anyone due to the fear of giving himself away to a stranger. He feared rejection above many other things and did his best to avoid it.

He kept himself mainly to books and soon have become one with them as he did nothing but read all day. He found his friend, his comfort, in the beautiful crinkled pages of his novels. They helped him escape the terrible reality he seemed to have adopted against his will. Over time, the boy began to find his books speaking to him (figuratively) and he could not shake the feeling that these books meant something more than words printed onto a page.

His parents would always make a job of making sure their child would not forget that his future would be harder than most. It was a dull blow to his heart every time the sore subject surfaced but the only thing he could do was put on a brave face and nod as he pretended to agree. More than once, he began to think what the point of his existence was, wondering why he had lived only to become a monster.

However, when his parents did raise the topic, he would always groan and raise the book a little higher to hide his face and he could tell his parents were looking at each other with concern. He was simply too young to worry about his future . . . or so he thought. Fate had a different idea for him.

His father has tragically died several years ago, the very same night his life was transformed. His valiant father had died a true Auror's death. He died fighting off a werewolf, ended up perishing in the claws of a beast that the boy turned into once a month. The poor child was four when he was bitten and he could never forget the bitter day when it happened.

He was a proud half-blood with his father being muggle-born and his mother being a half-blood as well. However, there was something different about him for he was not only a wizard but a werewolf as well; he was a half-breed. He was the son of Hope and Lyall Lupin. His name is Remus John Lupin.

* * *

Sitting in his bedroom on his bed, was a young boy who was the heir of a wealthy and a very well-known pure-blood family. Having the money and leisure did not mean much to him for instead of going about the neighbors, he sat in his mansion and stared out the window, occasionally looking around house for passageways and secret rooms. Even though he had found two and he was convinced that there were only two, he had nothing better to do then to explore his home.

"Friends" was not in this poor boy's dictionary.

Without friends, the poor boy was beginning to lose hope of ever making any. He only wished for one...just one single friend whom he could share his life with. Perhaps he was dreaming a little too big but a friendless boy could wish. He could wish with every fiber of his being.

Being an only child, many expected him to be a prat. Perhaps he was but he was a good person at heart and only had others' best interests at heart. He honestly was a good kid with good intentions, deviating from the stereotypical image of a pureblood descendant.

Perhaps it was his job to prove everyone wrong.

His mother and father were highly respected extremely successful Aurors who came from an entire bloodline of pure-bloods. And even if his parents were older, they were kind and true, spreading wisdom to the ones they talked to. However, if there was such a group of blood-traitors, the Potters were one and they, like their son, believed that equality was an important factor.

This boy was the son of Charlus and Dorea Potter.

His name is James Cicero Potter.

* * *

A boy with the darkest raven hair that cascaded to his shoulders was sitting in gloomily in his house, feeling ill tempered and spiteful towards his parents, he was forced day by day to sit in his room or wander about the house as long as he did not go outside.

He looked out his window longingly from his wooden floor of his room. The window stretched from the ceiling to the floor, giving the boy a wonderful view of the large field of swaying grass that danced with the wind as it blew around.

He always pondered over the subject of freedom, wishing so dearly he had it. He familiarized himself with all kinds of history and revolutions for freedom, admiring the way those historical figures always fought for what they so strongly desired, whether it meant sacrificing what they had to get what the needed.

His parents were discriminating and dominant, feeling more superior to the rest of the wizarding world because of their blood status. Like the Potters, the Black family worked for the Ministry and had a bloodline of pure-bloods, there to intimidate those whom they deemed unworthy.

The Black heir knew he was different from the start, right from the time where he was old enough to start growing his own opinions. When he realized his own were nothing like his family's, he knew something was going to arise out of the entire situation.

Indeed, it has. His family began to shun him.

They took pride in their wealth and power over others and took that to their advantage. Their sons were forced to remain silent and follow their rules when they would go in public, always wearing expensive clothes to look powerful and talk to select people.

His parents were Walburga and Orion Black.

His name was Sirius Orion Black.

* * *

In a little house in the middle of a suburban location, dwelt a small family of three. They were pure-blood but to the pure-bloods, they could have been anything but pure-bloods for they were not wealthy in the slightest nor where they working at the top, controlling people. They worked as simple clerks in wizarding shops around London. Their only son was more plump but nonetheless sharp and alert.

The poor boy was constantly ridiculed, laughed at, and bullied. He often came home crying about one thing or another, wishing the world would just give up on him like everyone else had. His parents were at loss, having no clue how to respond to such depressing wishes.

The boy would lock himself in his room and would refuse to come out for hours on end. Sometimes the mother had to leave dinner outside his door. A secret not to be told: the boy would take his dinner and shove it all into the garbage, feeling just a little bit better about himself. After the good feeling wore off, he just went back to feeling miserable.

He seemed to have been caught in a never-ending circle of misery and depression, wishing someday it would all end. Even beggars have their wishes and even doubters have their fantasies.

However, after a while, he began to grow more confident. It was not too much confidence but just enough to get him back on a regular eating schedule. He was also able to occlude all the rude bullies, letting their insults bounce right off him. He was beginning to hold himself with pride.

His family really had no financial problems nor were they the wealthiest family but they were content with what they had.

This boy was the proud son of Prius and Deborah Pettigrew.

His name with Peter Prius Pettigrew.

* * *

Remus sat in the dining room, looking out the window and watching and listening the waves crash against the beach. Their glass table sat right near the large window that reached from the top of the ceiling to the floor, letting natural sunlight flood through the kitchen. He was reading the Daily Prophet his mother received this morning and followed his mother with his gaze as she bustled about the kitchen.

"Mum . . ." Remus said slowly, averting his gaze to his scarred hands, "Mum, what if—do you think I'll be rejected from Hogwarts?"

"I have no idea," Hope said and came into the dining room with her wand drawn and levitating a stack of plates that floated behind her, "I can't say anything Remus."

Remus cast his gaze away to hide his hurt expression and looked out the window, willing for something to happen. However, for the next ten minutes, nothing did happen. The then ten minutes turned to twenty minutes, which turned to thirty. Thoughts started reeling through Remus's mind were making him dizzy as his thoughts battled each other, loudly, inside his head.

_Why would anyone let you go?_

_Maybe they are fair._

_Open your eyes to the world of discrimination._

_There has to be some people who understand._

_Fool! Do not be deceived!_

_I am not, I am being optimistic._

_Since when was the world based on optimism?_

The thoughts raging in Remus's head came to an abrupt stop—but as soon as Remus silenced the two quarreling sides of himself, his door's bell rang. It rang once and it rang loudly, blaring in his ear as he sat in the chair at war with himself.

"I've got it," Hope called to her son. "I've got it."

Remus grunted in reply, something his mother did not particularly like him doing, but she whisked past him and smoothed down her clothes. With a deep breath, she opened the door. Remus lost sight of her when she shifted her angle but the silence told Remus something was not quite right.

Biting his lip, he slowly rose to his feet and moved over to see just who his mother was talking to. With a huff, he peered around the corner and nearly passed out.

Albus Dumbledore stood on his doorstep.

"Do excuse the spontaneous visit," Dumbledore said lightly, smiling gently. "I only want a word."

"A word?" Hope echoed, sounding very confused.

"A word," Dumbledore confirmed and turned his twinkling yet searing gaze on Remus. "And this is Remus Lupin."

"How do you know me?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"May I come in?"

Hope took a graceful step back and allowed the legendary wizard into her home, welcoming him with a grand gesture of her arm as she graced him kindly.

"It has come to my knowledge Remus Lupin is of age," Dumbledore said and turned his gaze back to Remus.

Remus felt his face burn red; it was bad enough getting a letter of rejection (which he would have taken over being rejected by the Headmaster himself). Fate was simply laughing at him, pointing its finger and taunting him behind his back.

"Come of age, sir?" Hope asked, smoothing down her shirt. "I don't quite understand. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Are you not planning on giving your boy an education, Hope?" Dumbledore asked mildly but pleasantly. "As a top student at Hogwarts yourself, I would have expected him to be bursting at the seams about this opportunity."

"I would," Remus blurted out before he could stop himself. "I would give anything to go to school but I can't, sir."

"Well, why can't you?" Dumbledore asked, folding his hands before him, smiling down at him. "Pray, why can't you?"

"Sir," Remus muttered, completely forgetting about his manners. "Sir, I'm a werewolf. I am dangerous. How will I ever fit in at school? I'm a freak. I'm—"

"More than capable of attending my school, Remus Lupin," Dumbledore interrupted, holding his hand up to silence the rambling boy.

"I'm sorry," Remus said, now frowning deeply. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Why would it be?" Dumbledore asked gently, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm a werewolf," Remus said and bit his lip to keep the anger from flowing out of his mouth in a form of terrible words. "I don't understand. No one would want me, no one would want to teach me or be near me. . .or even interact with me. . .just like the rest of society."

"Headmaster, you know he can't go," Hope said quietly, making Remus's eyes prick with tears. "You know very well you cannot permit a werewolf. What would everyone else think?"

"I don't recall asking what everyone else would think," Dumbledore said with a little hum in his tone. "Remus Lupin, if I may."

Dumbledore rummaged through his cloak and pulled out a neatly sealed letter with green ink flowing across the front. He looked at it then gave it Remus with a caring expression.

"A letter," Remus murmured, his voice hoarse. "A letter from Hogwarts."

Dumbledore's smile only widened.

"Permitting me to go," Remus said, blinking back the tears. He turned to Dumbledore with solemn eyes. "I can go? You're being serious?"

Dumbledore merely nodded wordlessly as Remus went over the letter again. It was a bit longer than normal, having an extra note about the new arrangements Dumbledore had made with the school's staff. It was a full three minutes before anyone spoke again. Remus spoke again, but this time it was different.

"You're being serious."

Dumbledore merely waved as he apparated out.

* * *

Sirius Black was sitting on his bed, flipping through a book that his mother had given him. Interesting, it was not, but because he had nothing else to do, he decided that he would not mind flipping through it.

But as soon as he reached chapter fifteen, reading about the pure-blood bloodline his family had and prided in, there was a loud voice that carried up three floors, bounced off the walls, and echoed through Sirius's door; it was his mother's voice.

"Sirius, get down here!"

Sirius sighed and heaved himself to his feet, feeling more and more gloomy as he opened his door to stare down the hall. If he was ever called down from his mother, he was sure to get in trouble for the previous times his mother called for him, he had been yelled at.

Regulus, Sirius's younger brother, opened his door and poked his head from out of his room, eyeing Sirius nervously.

"What does she want?" Regulus asked as Sirius walked past his room.

"I have no idea," Sirius replied and shrugged. "Nothing good I suppose."

Regulus looked wary then shut his door again, leaving Sirius to walk down the hall and down the three flights of stairs, taking his time with each one as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Hurry up!"

Sirius shoved the urge to roll his eyes and walked into the kitchen were his mother was standing, with her wand drawn, and holding a letter in the other.

"It's for you," she said brusquely and turned to continue her work.

Kreacher, the house-elf, was muttering to Mrs. Black about being able to do the work for her and she nodded.

However, he was rarely paying attention for his gaze was fixed on the green ink that was clearly addressed to him. He opened the letter with a letter opener resting on the table, unfolded the first parchment, and read it. His eyes grew wider the farther he got into reading and when he was finally done, Sirius suppressed a shout of triumph.

"I've been accepted to Hogwarts!" Sirius announced to no one in particular. "I've been accepted."

"Have you?" Mrs. Black said slyly and looked at his son with a dominant glare.

"I'm free," Sirius whispered shakily to himself. "I'm going to Hogwarts."

"You come from the noble Black family—we belong in Slytherin as do you," Walburga said with her nose in the air. "Have I made myself understood?"

"Always, mother," Sirius said albeit absentmindedly.

"You are one of us."

Sirius bit back a stinging retort but nodded curtly, not really caring what his mother had to say at that point.

"You're dismissed."

Sirius wasted no time leaping out of the kitchen and bounding about the house before he raced back upstairs, taking two at a time and reaching the third floor in less than a minute. There, when he turned the corner, saw Regulus, who was sitting on the floor of the hall, leaning against the wall. When he saw Sirius, he leaped to his feet and gave him a puzzled look.

"Are you all right?" Regulus asked, looking at his brother up and down.

"Better than al right!" Sirius roared.

"What's happened?" Regulus asked, looking at him with wide and curious eyes.

"I've been accepted to Hogwarts!" Sirius said and showed Regulus his letter.

The younger brother's face shone with envy as he stared at the letter and read it. Sirius could not stand still even if his life depended on it.

"You're so lucky!" Regulus said bitterly.

"I'm free," Sirius breathed. "This is my ticket to freedom."

"Lucky you."

"You'll get yours next year," Sirius pointed out and started making his way to his room.

Regulus shrugged at Sirius's statement and backed away into his room. Sirius slammed his door as he ran into his own bedroom, holding the ticket to his freedom in the air.

* * *

Peter sat at his table, reading the Daily Prophet, feeling rather bored; his father was at work while his mother was at home working. She was cleaning her small but now spotless kitchen and using her wand to dispose of the unwanted garbage. Just then, something tapped angrily on the kitchen window; Peter looked up startled and saw a beautiful tawny owl. It soared happily into the kitchen and settled on the table.

Peter was distracted by the letter clamped in its beak and took it, pushing his plate of toast towards the owl and opened it the envelope that was addressed to him. He pulled out the first bit of parchment and started reading, going down the letter with his eyes; his face seemed to light up as he finished. Running into the kitchen with the letter above his head, he burst in, shouting for his mother.

"What?" she asked and caught the letter clutched in Peter's hand.

"My acceptance letter to HOGWARTS!" Peter said gleefully and showed his mother the letter.

"Oh Peter! That's wonderful news!" his mother said and hugged him. "We will have to celebrate of course. How about your favorite dinner?"

Peter just grinned.

* * *

James was outside, leaning against a tall redwood tree that was growing in the smallest patch of woods near his house. He took one look at his house, wondering if he was going to be stuck there until he would wither away and die; warped out of his thoughts, he saw an owl with something in its beak fly towards him. Unsure of whether to run or wait, James was paralyzed with curiosity as it flew down next to him in the grass.

The owl was had beautiful white plumage but in its beak was a letter. James bit his lip and knit his eyebrows as he cautiously leaned forward with his hand extended, not wanting to scare off the beautiful owl.

"May I?" James whispered to the owl.

It did nothing but blink at him.

James snatched the letter from the beak, stroked the owl's white feathers, and started reading. He nearly burst with excitement as he sprang to his feet and sprinted the distance between him and his house. The grass underneath his feet became a blur as he seemed to fly over the ground.

He burst through his door and skidded to a halt where his mother and father were sitting. He waved the letter in their faces and immediately recognizing it, they exclaimed and hugged their son with bursting pride.

"What?" Mrs. Potter screeched.

"I've got it!" James bellowed, breathlessly. "I've got it!"

"We are proud of you, James!" Mr. Potter said, coming up to his wife. "We knew you were going to get it. You belong at Hogwarts."

"I can't believe it!" James said, crushing the letter to his chest.

Hogwarts meant freedom from his house. Hogwarts meant meeting new people. Hogwarts meant meeting his potential best mate or mates. Hogwarts meant living the life he thought he would never have.

"You are going to meet so many new friends," Mr. Potter added. "We are so happy for you."

Hogwarts meant a new life.


	2. II: Diagon Alley

**All rights remain.**

When Remus received, not only his acceptance letter, but permission from the Headmaster himself, he waited ever so patiently for the end of August to arrive. When it did, Remus found himself feeling nervous to the point where he was getting himself dizzy.

He looked at his mother with uncertainty but she nodded encouragingly and held up a pot with powder, indicating to her son that he should take some.

"Are you ready?" Syrena asked.

"I dunno," Remus said earnestly.

"That means you are."

Syrena nudged the pot into his hands and Remus grabbed some. He stepped into the fireplace, ducking his head to avoid hitting it and tucking his elbows a little closer to his body.

"Speak clearly, Remus," Syrena warned and took a step back. "Off you go now."

"Wait, what happens if I don't?" Remus asked in a flurry, panicking slightly.

"Just speak clearly," Syrena said, avoiding the question all together. "Go on."

"Diagon Alley," Remus said in a clear voice, threw down the Floo Powder, and erupted into green flames.

He felt himself spinning, getting rather queasy, he waited desperately for the flash of Diagon Alley to come into view; he never understood why people enjoyed Floo.

He abruptly came to a short stop and he fell to the ground with a groan. But Remus got to his feet and looked around, taking the time to marvel at everything he saw, allowing the sound of a bustling city fill his ears like beautiful music.

He realized that he had never seen so many wizards in one place of all ages. Some were young, some were old, and some came with big families while others came with smaller families.

"I wouldn't have imagined all this," he murmured to himself.

They all seemed to be shopping for their start of the school year. He lost track of the ones he watched as they disappeared into the wizarding stores; each captured his attention as he read the signs. He dusted off his buttoned down shirt and waited for his mother, his nervous feeling did not go away. However, when his mother arrived (gracefully) she took motioned for him to follow her close by.

Remus noticed how he would earn stares from the passersby and shrunk closer to his mother, feeling uncomfortable. Syrena seemed to have noticed this for she waved at the ones who waved at her first; their eyes would always travel down to Remus.

"How do you know all these people?" Remus asked his mother. "_Why_ do they all look at me? Do they know what I am? How did they find out? Who told them?"

Syrena smiled.

"One question at a time, Remus—successful Aurors are always popular and well known among the Wizarding World. They know you because they know your father."

"They. . .they knew?" Remus said, feeling his face heat up.

"About the he night you were attacked was the night your father died, yes," she answered and pulled Remus closer with a hand around his shoulders. "No one told anyone who you are, Remus."

Remus frowned. "Are you sure they don't know about my condition?"

Syrena smiled at Remus and put her arm around his shoulder. "They only know you were attacked; no one knows about your condition."

Remus still felt little to no reassurance.

* * *

James waited impatiently with his father, who looked at his watch and over James's shoulder for his wife. She came bustling into the living room with a large pot of familiar gray powder.

"Floo," James exclaimed.

The boy grabbed a handful and stepped inside the fireplace, bending his head so he would not hit it and looked at his parents.

"Speak clearly," Mrs. Potter said and raised her eyebrow at James who grinned madly.

"Ready, James?" Cicero asked.

James nodded and opened his mouth, inhaling a mouthful of ashes but clearing his throat he threw down the powder and said "Diagon Alley" in a strong voice.

He burst into the emerald flames, which licked his robes playfully, filling him with a warm feeling until he started spinning uncontrollably. He definitely liked the Floo although the spinning he could go without.

Soon enough, he found himself on his back looking up at the blue sky and his head filled with the sounds of people and their indistinct conversations. He heard a _whoosh _behind him and got to his feet, looking at the source of the noise.

James's parents arrived secondly and grimaced at the state of their son's clothes. They quickly dusted his shirt and looked at Diagon Alley.

"Ready, James?" Mrs. Potter said, taking a deep breath.

"Where to, Mum?" James asked, looking around as well.

"Let's go and get your books, first of all," Denole suggested. "I have the list here and I'll show you where to go."

They all turned into the nearest bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. A bookstore that sold many of the textbooks the Hogwarts students required. James barely had enough time to marvel and take in the sights before his mother and father nudged him along, down to bustling streets to get what they came for.

* * *

Sirius came clambering down the stairs, fixing the high collared shirt and a tie to top it off. It was an outfit he was forced to wear; he knew that his parents made him wear the uncomfortable yet striking shirt was to look superior and intimidating.

Regulus was forced to wear something similar and was trying to casually pull the collar down. Sirius's father was hovering over them, watching what his sons were doing as they waited for Mrs. Black.

When she came in, she was wearing a black jacket that went down to her knees with a tight bun tied in her black hair. Her eyes surveyed her sons and grabbed the Floo powder that was in a glass bowl. Sirius was shoved into the fireplace by his father who nodded at him; the rest of his family hung back as he walked into their beautiful stone fireplace.

"Hurry up," his mother snapped.

Sirius took a handful of powder, fighting back a glare of loathe at his mother.

"Diagon Alley."

Sirius was engulfed in flames, being able to enjoy the warmth from the fire for only the briefest of moments before he started spinning fast enough to make anyone sick.

He suddenly stopped and nearly fell to his feet when he arrived at Diagon Alley. He had, of course, used Floo before but he had not quite grasp the feeling of it quite yet.

His father, brother, and mother came along shortly after he did and nudged him forward. The Black family was looking at the crowd with judgmental eyes.

"This is Diagon Alley, Sirius. This is where I shall be getting your supplies," Walburga explained.

Sirius looked around at the buildings and shops in awe.

"Speak only to the people I speak to," Mrs. Black demanded and grasped Sirius's shoulder. "Is that clear?"

"Very," Sirius muttered and tugged unconsciously on his collared shirt.

"Good," Mrs. Black said and raised her chin.

She set down through the crowd who parted their ways slightly to avoid the superior looking woman and her family that followed behind. She waved to two families that Sirius did not recognize but had a feeling that they came from a pure-blood bloodline.

* * *

Peter looked at his parents and already had a handful of the gray powder and was now waiting for instructions from his parents.

"Remember to speak clearly and focus on where you want to go," Mrs. Pettigrew said kindly and took a step back. "Whenever you're ready, Peter."

"Diagon Alley!"

Peter threw down the powder and he was immediately swallowed by the emerald flames. It frightened him at first, making him want to step right back out. However, he had no time, he could not move his feet, and he was already spinning.

He was spinning faster and suddenly fell on his back and groaned, the first thing he saw was a brick building towering high above his head.

He, then, heard the roar of the crowd and instantly knew that he had successfully made it to Diagon Alley. His parents joined him and bustled along looking at his supplies list.

"Is this it?" Peter asked in shock and awe. "Is this Diagon Alley? Is this what everyone has been talking about?"

"This is the place ever wizard and witch from London gets there supplies, Peter," Mrs. Pettigrew said and looked about the bustling shops. "It's exactly the same with the exception of new people running the stores."

"And you went here when you went to Hogwarts?" Peter asked.

"This is where I went," she said, still looking around.

"Oh and Mum . . ." Peter asked quietly. "Can I get a broom?"

"Brooms are rather expensive," Mrs. Pettigrew said and looked up from the list to look at her son. "I don't think I could answer that right at this moment, Peter. Perhaps this is something we can talk about."

"It doesn't have to be a new broom—" Peter said quickly and stopped, somewhat defiantly, as his mother smiled.

"I suppose," Deborah said and smiled at her son. "But don't go breaking the rules with this new broom. You know full well first years aren't allowed their own brooms."

"Everyone else is going to bring them regardless," Peter mumbled. "I just don't want to look like the odd one out."

"I understand, which is why I am agreeing," Mrs. Pettigrew said and looked at her son. "But seriously, no breaking the rules."

"Who said I would?" Peter said and looked at his mother with a mild expression. "I just wanted a broom—you know—for flying purposes."

Mrs. and Mr. Pettigrew guided their son down the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, pointing out what stores sold what and who owned what stores while Peter breathed it all in, marveling at everything he saw.

"We'll get your books first," Mrs. Pettigrew said and pointed at a particular shop that many wizards and witches were coming in and out of, carrying books.

"Where do you get them?" Peter asked.

"I'll show you and you'll see," Mrs. Pettigrew said, guiding her son.

* * *

"Let's go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions," Syrena said guiding Remus into the shop.

They have just emerged from the bookshop. Remus was absolutely glowing with pride as he now carried a book bag that swung on his shoulder with all his new books in it just like he had seen older students do.

"Okay," Remus said and looked at his book bag fondly. "Where's that?"

"Just there," Syrena said and pointed at a store that had the brightest lights coming from within the store.

Upon entering the pert store, Madam Malkin came rushing up to greet them. She shook hands with Syrena and Remus and looked at his mother in particular.

"What a wonderful opportunity to meet you," Madam Malkin said and looked grimly at Syrena who turned her green eyes around the store. "I've only read about what happened that night—and your son—"

She looked down at Remus who tried not flinching away as Madam Malkin shook hands with Remus.

"You are much too well reserved," Madam Malkin remarked.

Syrena laughed and looked at Remus with deep affection while Remus averted his gaze shyly elsewhere, his blue eyes darting around the store to avoid Madam Malkin's gaze.

"Let's fit you with some robes, shall we?" Madam Malkin asked smiling at Remus who turned his gaze back to her and nodded. She laughed and beckoned Remus and his mother to follow.

* * *

"Look at that Airbender! It's the fastest broom yet!" James said to his parents pointing at the broom displayed in the window of the shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies. Denole laughed and nudged James along.

"Yes, yes," Denole said in an exasperated tone and looked sharp when she saw her husband right beside James, ogling at the broom with the same amount of enthusiasm as his son.

"Cicero! We are _not _here to admire broomsticks! We're here for his supplies!" Denole said sternly.

Cicero straightened up with a sheepish expression. "Sorry."

* * *

"We're going in here," she said pointing to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary. James followed his parents in and looked at his list.

Peter looked at the stores and his mother led him into one called Flourish and Blotts.

"This is where we will buy your textbooks."

"Mum listen . . ."

"I'm still thinking about that broom, Peter," Deborah cut in.

"I was going to say I don't need a broom quite yet, I suppose," Peter mumbled.

Deborah gave Peter a little smile. "We never said we wouldn't get you a broom, dear. If you really want one we'll certainly oblige. Take good care of your broom though, promise me that?"

"Yeah," Peter said, perking up at once and beaming at his mother.

"Then I'll get you one and you can consider it as your birthday gift." Deborah finally decided and with a warm smile, her, Peter, and Peter's father bustled into the Quidditch shop.

* * *

After buying the last of the supplies, Remus looked at the Airbender and his mother smiled, "Is this what you want?"

Remus looked up at her surprise, "You would buy this for me?"

Syrena laughed, "I'm not cheap and we have some spare gold."

Remus walked in and walked back out with his new broomstick and was beaming. Not far behind was James Potter with his new Airbender and not far behind him was Sirius Black and his brother Regulus with their new broomsticks. Sirius Black had the Airbender in his hand. Peter on the other hand bought himself a decent broom that would satisfy him.

"Let's head to Eeylops Owl Emporium, shall we?" Syrena asked.

Remus nodded still admiring his broom. He looked in awe awe at the amazing owls.

He stopped in front of one owl in particular. This one had spectacular gray, almost silvery feathers in this light and clear amber eyes. It clicked its beak at Remus and ruffled its wings, adjusting its taloned claws on its perch. A man came up and cleared his throat. Syrena whipped around but relaxed when she recognized who the man was.

"You must be Remus Lupin, you were in the Daily Prophet," he said shaking Remus's hand, not bothering to introduce himself first. He looked from Syrena to Remus then back to Syrena. He seemed to have noticed that he had not said his name so he cleared his throat again and grinned.

"I am Caesar Doberman," he said and raised his eyebrow at Remus, "I know you probably can't remember what attacked you but I still think you are lucky to be alive."

Remus gave him a brisk smile. "I think I am lucky too, sir."

"I see you've been checking out that owl over there. He's something, that ow is. He's a bit dominant with the other owls but a real reliable one, he can send letters across the ocean—I know that most owls can—but you won't be disappointed in that one over there," Caesar said with a wild smile and strolled over to the owl's cage. "His name is Ohanzee."

Remus looked at Ohanzee who hooted again. "Ohanzee is a nice name. I like it."

"Are you interested in taking him home?" Caesar asked, jerking his head at the owl. "Because he is for sale, of course."

Syrena nodded silently and pulled out a money bag and plopped it in the man's hand. "Thank you sir."

Caesar looked pleased and handed the caged owl to Remus who took it graciously, saying his thanks, and looking at the owl who looked right back at him.

"He's wonderful," Caesar said and pointed at Ohanzee, "but he's been in here the longest besides the animals over there on that wall."

Remus followed the man's finger and saw a large cages of turtles, frogs, and cats of various colors. The cats seemed to interest Remus the most; some were sleeping, others were pawing hopefully at the glass, others hung back suspiciously at the people who came to look at them, and others were hissing with flat ears.

"Thank you," Remus said again and departed from the store, now happily carrying his newly purchased owl, a new wand, and a new book bag. Remus could not have felt more elated, as if his lycanthropy meant nothing to him for the time being.

* * *

Sirius took the Floo back to his house, last of his family, and when he returned his brother Regulus laughed when Sirius smacked his head on a low lying piece of furniture. Groaning he dropped to his knees and stumbled out of the fireplace. Walburga snorted and whipped around herded Regulus into the kitchen. Sirius took all of his newly bought supplies and headed up to his room, hoping to avoid his family.

Regulus followed at a slower pace until he caught up with Sirius in the second floor.

"I wish _I_ were going to Hogwarts . . ."

"It won't be long," Sirius promised, "you'll be heading off to Hogwarts next year. You don't have too much of a wait Regulus."

"Long enough," Regulus said bitterly and looked at Sirius with an envious expression.

Sirius sighed as he and Regulus made their way to the third floor, separating to different rooms, Regulus shot one last jealous look at Sirius before shutting his bedroom door, leaving Sirius to shut his own, locking himself in his room with his new owl and supplies.

He let the owl out, watching it with fascination as it soared around his room with a glorious screech of delight.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a review. It doesn't even have to be nice.**


	3. III: Hogwarts

**All rights remain.**

The trip to Diagon Alley seemed like such a long time ago but now that August had turned into the first day of September, Remus felt like he went shopping for his supplies a year ago.

But this was the first day Remus was awake before his mother could wake him up. The nervous feeling was exploding in Remus's stomach over and over again as he forced himself to look at his scarred hands. After a moment of silence, he got to his feet and went downstairs where his mother was waiting for him with a bowl of cereal.

"Eat, Remus," Syrena said gently as he came into view.

Remus started forward and thanked his mother but as he looked at his food, his stomach did several flips, making him groan and clutch his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Syrena asked with a frown as she watched Remus rest himself against the kitchen chair.

If it were not for the sound of the rushing waves of the ocean, Remus was convinced he would have vomited. Syrena gave her son a sympathetic look and sat him down next to her.

"What?" Remus asked, managing to regain his composure. "What is it?"

"Listen," Syrena said very quietly but very seriously. "Professor Dumbledore is a great wizard and in my opinion the best. He has made the arrangements for you regarding your condition. Do as he says and all will go well. Do not be afraid to talk to people either and I know what are you are thinking, Remus. You are my son, I know you are worried about that."

"How can I not be?" Remus asked in dismay, he looked utterly frightened at the idea of the school finding out about his condition.

"That should not stop you from making new friends," Syrena said briskly and placed a gentle hand on Remus's arm.

"But if they do?" Remus asked fretfully.

"So what?" Syrena said sharply. "If you have made the right friends, they would not shun you. They would want to help you."

Remus looked down at his bowl of untouched cereal, feeling worse but finding comfort in his mother and her words. So he let the silence between them stretch on, letting him soak in her words.

"Do you have your things packed?" she asked, bringing Remus from his thoughts to the present.

"Yeah," Remus replied and got up. "They are all in my room."

Syrena and Remus went together to haul his things down to the family room. The modern contemporary of his house made him realize how long he would be gone from his mother.

"There is so much to say in such little time," Remus muttered as they walked into the living room. Syrena was levitating his trunk with her wand. She stopped, set down his trunk, and looked at her son with confusion glimmering in her eyes.

"What is there to talk about?" Syrena asked while looking around for the pot of Floo powder.

"It's here," Remus said dully, pointing at the gray pot on the table. "—I just feel like something will go wrong—no! Not about me."

Syrena still gave Remus a curious expression but turned away as she took the pot. "Then what do you mean?"

"You," Remus said stupidly and failed to catch the words that fell from his mouth. Immediately he could feel his face burn a brilliant shade of red as he looked from his mother to the floor.

"Me?" Syrena asked in a mild tone. "Do not worry about me. I put my faith and trust in Dumbledore—as should you."

Remus remained silent and Syrena held out the pot. Putting himself and the trunk in the fireplace, Remus took one look at his living room and threw down the powder while saying "King's Cross Station" in the clearest voice he could muster. Again, he felt himself spinning until he clambered clumsily out of the fireplace with his trunk. There was a glow behind his back, indicating that Syrena had come shortly afterward.

She took Remus by the arm and guided him gently over to the barrier between platform nine and ten.

"How come the muggles didn't see us?" Remus asked as he hurried alongside his mother.

"Enchantments," Syrena said simply and looked around as if she was looking for someone.

Remus frowned but did not answer, still trying to ponder just how said enchantments worked.

"Let's go," Syrena said and nudged Remus forward. "Take a running start."

Bewildered, Remus obeyed and flat out sprinted with his trunk behind him, wheeling loudly. He could not help but flinch as he waited to hear the thud as he made contact with the brick wall but it never came.

Shocked, Remus stopped right inside the wall and something told him that was a bad idea so he continued to run through until, right before his eyes, there was a red train that had the words _Hogwarts Express_ stamped on the front in shinning letters.

Syrena placed her hand on his shoulder and led him towards the train. Remus followed, looking around and breathing in the glorious sight. It was nothing like he had seen yet.

"Here we are," Syrena said and straightened her jacket. Her eyes landed on something she caught sight of. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a little word with someone."

"What should I do?" Remus asked.

"Put your things by the train and come back," Syrena said and patted his shoulder. "Go on, don't be shy."

When people told Remus not to be shy, he became even more so. For a few seconds, all he could do was stare at the beautiful train before him. Beautiful was a strange way to describe the train but it was magnificent. Red glowed brightly with the words "Hogwarts Express" stamped clearly in the front. He could not help but feel simply awed by this piece of machinery.

When his things were dropped off, much like everyone else's, he dusted his hands off and looked about the station, hoping to catch everything in sight. His eyes feasted upon his surroundings with sheer excitement. As he looked around, his eyes landed on a boy and his parents, who were leaving their trunks by the train. The conductor came out and shook the boy's parents' hands. They seemed to know each other for they were exchanging hugs and introducing the boy to the conductor.

Remus pursed his lips and looked away before they noticed him staring, but he could not help but shoot occasional glances over his shoulder, noticing how the boy seemed to be his age. He moved away after a minute or so but before he could look for his mother again, Remus heard a strangled cry and an angry voice.

Remus turned to the source of the noise and watched as a boy with dark hair that fell to his shoulders being yelled at by his screeching mother. The young boy, who looked like Remus's age, bellowed back, saying something inaudible but immediately stopped for something made him. Remus craned his neck and saw the boy, now, sprawled out on the ground, clutching his face as his mother stowed her wand back in her robes pocket.

The boy picked himself off, sent one last disgusted look at his mother and towed his trunk behind him to where Remus was just at with his younger brother carrying the owl's cage. Passing Remus, the boy gave the young werewolf a friendly wave before disappearing back into the crowd.

Remus was now watching parents hugging their children as they were going to step onto the train. Looking around for his mother, a little more frantically, he turned on the spot when two hands rested themselves on his shoulders.

"Mum," Remus said and hugged her, breathing in her warmth.

"Be safe," Syrena said and ran a hand through his hair. "Be wise, do well in school, and make us proud. Make me and your father proud."

Remus nodded, to lost for words, but he was saved when his mother pulled him in for one last embrace.

"Write to me?" Remus asked as Syrena relinquished Remus to look at him with sincerity.

"As often as you write to me," Syrena said and raised her eyebrows. "Your owl will find me."

Remus waved goodbye, almost with a heavy heart, as he boarded the Hogwarts Express. The steam billowed from the train as it seemed to be eager to get moving. But as soon as he looked inside the train, his heavy feelings evaporated, leaving him with nothing but excitement.

He chose an empty compartment and sat closest to the window. But as soon as he walked in, he heard a sudden movement and turned to see another boy standing behind him.

This boy had messy black hair with black glasses that framed friendly hazel eyes. Remus and the boy were the same height and judging by the appearance of him, he was also a first year.

"Mind if I sit here?" the boy asked breathlessly.

"No problem," Remus said and motioned for him to come in.

"Thanks!" the boy said whose face split into a big grin.

Remus nodded wordlessly, hoping this would not end up too awkward.

"James," the boy said with a grin. "James Potter. What's your name?"

Remus, who was now rummaging through his book bag, sat across from James and said:

"Remus Lupin."

"That's cool," James said with an air of elegance. "Where are you headed if you have the choice?"

"Dunno," Remus said and looked thoughtful. "I was thinking Ravenclaw, maybe, or Gryffindor and what about yourself?"

"I—"

James was interrupted by a knock on the compartment door. The two boys looked simultaneously and saw two boys standing at the compartment door. One boy, Remus recognized from the fight he had with his mother. But looking closer at him, he had warm gray eyes and a kind of casual elegance that Remus admired.

The boy standing next to the one with gray eyes was at least a head shorter. He was a bit plumper but nonetheless still alert. He had blue eyes, like Remus's, and blonde hair, he looked much more nervous than the taller.

"Come in," Remus said and opened the compartment door for the two.

"Thanks," the taller said and sat down next to Remus.

Remus shifted his position, noticing how James's gaze was fixed on the newcomer with a sort of intensity. It was almost like James recognized him but did not quite know for sure.

"Sirius at your service," the taller boy said with a dramatic bow. He paused. "Sirius—Black."

Sirius seemed to hesitate when he said his last name and immediately, James knew why. Startled, Remus looked over at James who nodded. He watched as the bespectacled boy sat up straight.

"I know who you are," James said at once. "My family's talked to yours before. You come from the pure-blood Black family. I'm James Potter by the way."

"I recognize you," Sirius said and with lightning speed, Sirius changed the subject. He inclined his head towards the shorter boy who sat quietly in his seat. "This is Peter Pettigrew."

"Hello," James and Remus chorused.

"Hello," Peter said quietly but surely.

There was an awkward silence in which they sat together, merely staring at their hands. However, Remus stood up, effectively breaking the silence.

"I'm going to get changed into uniform," Remus announced.

"So will I," Peter decided, standing up as well.

Together, he and Remus headed out of the compartment with their book bags in their arms.

Before James or Sirius could say anything, the sound of the compartment door sliding open interrupted the four boys' conversation. Both of their heads turned around and looked at the source of the noise.

James's jaw threatened to drop open as he looked at a girl with thick red hair that fell to her shoulders and the brightest green eyes he had ever seen. Next to her, stood a boy, who looked their age. He had long black hair that acted like curtains around his face.

Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly, nudging James with his toe and moved to sit next to James. However, the two boys remained silent as the girl and boy struck up their conversation.

"You better be in Slytherin," the boy with the dark hair and hooked nose.

"Slytherin?" the girl echoed in confusion.

James and Sirius looked at each other, both wearing identical expressions as if they were sharing each other's thoughts with one another. But to break the silence between James and Sirius and the boy and the girl, they decided to strike up their own conversation.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius who was lounging across the seat from him.

Sirius did not smile.

"My whole family's been in Slytherin," he said darkly.

"Blimey," James said. "And I thought you seemed all right."

Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an invisible sword.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad."

The greasy haired boy made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," The boy replied, with the smallest hint of a sneer. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interjected.

James roared with laughter, while the girl glared at the two of them. She grabbed the boy's arm.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooo . . ." James cooed.

"Ooo! 'Come on Severus, let's find another compartment'!" Sirius mocked.

James and Sirius were busy imitating the girl's lofty voice with cheeky grins but as Severus passed them, James stuck out his leg and tried tripping him.

"See ya, Snivellus!" James and Sirius shouted from their compartment and slammed the door shut.

The boys burst out laughing once they sat back down, amused at their own antics. Seeing as they have found, yet, another thing in common, they continued to roar with laughter until Remus and Peter returned to the compartment with their Hogwarts robes on.

"What was that about?" Remus asked with a slight frown.

"Y-you should have been there!" James said between his laughter. "Snivellus!"

"That boy who was walking with that girl?" Peter asked, looking over his shoulder. "They looked a bit flustered."

"I don't know if I want to hear the story . . ." Remus said with a teasing grin at the two boys.

James tried to trip the greasy haired boy on his way out.

"'Bye Snivellus!"

James and Sirius were in another fit of laughter after watching them turn out of sight.

The sky started growing darker as the day started melting into the night. After long hours of conversations between the now four friends and stuffing themselves with candy from the trolley, conducted by a kind plump woman.

After their conversation of their favorite candy turned into Quidditch, the sun was already down, leaving the sky a dark indigo flecked with small white dots. But when word got around that they would be arriving at Hogwarts; James and Sirius left to change into their robes.

Now the four friends sat near the window, looking out and waiting to see what the grand castle looked like.

"Do you guys like pranks?" James asked raising his eyebrow as Peter sat down on his own shoe. Muttering, Peter removed the shoe from the seat and forced his foot in it.

"Yes," Sirius said at once and grinned madly. "I know loads of stores to get prank stuff."

"I guess they're not so bad," Remus said with a slight smile.

James laughed. "Then we are going to pull some major ones during our years at Hogwarts."

"There is it!" Sirius exclaimed pointing out the window, "Hogwarts!"

Remus felt his spirits rise. He hopped off the train and heard a voice calling the first years. When the four boys walked toward the source of the noise, they gaped at the person. He had to be the tallest man Remus had ever seen.

"Firs' years, over here! I'm Rubeus Hagrid."

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus all clambered into one boat and pushed off from shore. The boat magically seemed to know where it was going, across the black lake towards the lit castle.

"Hogwarts is huge!" James exclaimed, the lantern on their boat swung wildly. "I can't wait to explore!"

He led all the first years to boats. The students quickly clambered into the boats and pushed off from the sand.

"I can't believe it's actually Hogwarts!" Sirius said, the lantern's light fell upon the Black heir's eager face. "I'm so excited."

"I am too," the three chorused, craning their necks to get a better glimpse of Hogwarts.

"Did you hear that there's a giant squid living in here?" James asked, now looking down over the edge of the boat and trailing his hand in the water.

"There is?" Peter asked worried; his eyes looked around, wary and alert.

"Yeah," Remus said, shooting James a look. "I doubt that it is interested in a couple of first years."

Peter looked a little more relieved.

"I reckon the squid will only come up to get scrawny gits like James," Sirius joked.

James raised his eyebrow and shoved Sirius who stumbled backward and fell off.

"Oi!" Remus said and leaned over.

Before he could react, a hand closed around his throat and pulled him. Remus plunged beneath the sheet of water and kicked up to the surface after being submerged completely.

"Sirius!" Remus choked when he saw Sirius.

"I meant to get James," Sirius said with an apologetic note.

Remus and Sirius swam to their boat and watched, to their amusement; Peter and James look over the edge.

Peter was extremely jumpy so Remus dragged him under while Sirius towed James in.

Both broke the surface spitting out lake water, Remus and Sirius were laughing and treading water.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" James coughed.

"Revenge," Sirius said. Suddenly his face lit up.

"What?" Remus asked.

"I have a perfect prank!"

Sirius reviewed the prank and they slipped under the chilly water and swam to the boat that had Snape and the girl sitting in it. They were talking to each other and pointing at Hogwarts.

James, Peter, and James sniggered while Remus dipped his head beneath the surface and pounded on the boat's bottom.

Remus fumbled for his wand, his most prized possession besides the broom he smuggled into Hogwarts, to make sure it was still in his pocket and to his immense relief it was. He'd be devastated if it dropped in the lake.

Remus slowly resurfaced and watched as Snape and the girl look wildly around.

Sirius sneaked up on the other side of their boat and splashed water at Snape who spluttered and looked around, grabbing the lantern and leaning over the side, using the light. Remus felt the light shine on him and he instantly ducked underwater.

When he was sure the light was gone, he came back up and saw the silhouette of James splash the red haired girl.

"What is it, Sev?"

Snape shrugged.

And without warning a sharp nudge prodded Remus. He looked around sharply and saw James motioning for him to follow.

With the last part of the prank in motion, the four combined their strength and tipped the boat.

Remus and Sirius volunteered to be the ones pulling down while James and Peter pushing the boat up.

Together, Snape and the girl plunged in. Remus and Sirius quickly swam clear before they could see them.

Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter tipped the boat back for the two to climb on (it was Remus's suggestion) and tipped their boat back. They clambered back in ad started shivering despite the warm air.

"I'm freezing!" James chattered.

"Should've thought of t-that," Remus muttered.

"It w-was a good p-prank though!" Sirius said.

Peter only shivered.

When the boat finally scraped the rocky bottom of the lake, they jumped out of the boat and hurried beside the other first years milling around.

They were finally guided inside; it was the most grandest and beautiful thing Remus had ever seen. It was a marvelous building with divine interior designing. They were stopped on the stairs, Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were among the first.

There stood an older looking witch but she still looked like the kind of teacher not to mess with. Sirius smirked at James who smiled.

"I am Professor McGonagall," she said as the first years all joined her. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

She looked at the students around her.

"Now while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup."

The four exchanged glances between them. They followed Professor McGonagall to the Great Hall and saw but a single hat perched on a stool.

They first years gathered in front of the hat and listened to Professor McGonagall call each first year to the hat to sort them into houses. After the hat's song, which Remus did not pay much attention to, the sorting began.

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius strolled up to the Sorting Hat with ease and sat down on the wobbly stool. Barely setting the Sorting Hat on his head, the entire room held their breath until the Sorting Hat bellowed its decision.

"Gryffindor!"

Sirius could not look happier as he roared his approval and strode over to the Gryffindor table who all reached over to pat the new first year on the shoulders.

"Evans, Lily."

Lily got up and walked nervously to the Sorting Hat's stool. She sat upon it and waited for the Sorting Hat to announce his decision.

"Gryffindor!"

She looked relieved as she walked to the Gryffindor table with a definite smile. But as she passed her friend, he let out a little groan and her smile faltered as she caught his eye. Sirius moved down the bench but she recognized him and pointedly turned her back to him.

"Chestnut, Daron."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Froyt, Ella."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Gallon, Arieta."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Gildon, Harriet."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Julon, Carrie."

"Slytherin!"

Remus recognized the sopping wet boy who they had pulled their merciless prank on.

"Lupin, Remus."

Remus breathed deeply, sat upon the stool, and waited for the Hat to be lowered.

"Gryffindor!"

He felt weak with relief as he walked over to Sirius who clapped him on the back, looking ecstatic.

"Pettigrew, Peter."

Peter walked up and waited for his sorting.

"Gryffindor!"

Next, it was Peter who sat down across from Sirius and Remus, positively beaming.

"Prewett, Alice."

"Gryffindor!"

"Potter, James."

James strolled up with confidence and as soon as the hat was upon his head, it shouted its decision.

"Gryffindor!"

James grinned and joined his four friends. And now that Remus knew his friends were all in the same house, Remus could finally relax.

"Snape, Severus."

"Slytherin!"

"Tereson, Robbert."

"Slytherin!"

"Wells, Bernie."

There was a pause this time until . . .

"Ravenclaw!"

The Sorting continued to go until the rest of the first years were sorted into their houses. The four friends were sitting across from one another beaming at each other and shaking the other Gryffindors' hands.

"Hi," James said to the red head, "I'm James."

The girl shook his hand, "hi, I'm Lily."

Remus couldn't help but notice how Snape looked angrily at the Gryffindor table from the Slytherin.

An older but wise looking man stepped up looking at the students with twinkling blue eyes behind his silver-white beard.

"I am Professor Dumbledore and I am to remind the students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds and the third floor. On a happier note, we have a new Professor. Professor Hilret is filling Defense Against the Dark Arts."

A tall man nodded curtly at the crowd.

"That's all the announcements I have," Professor Dumbledore said, "let the feast begin!"

Food magically appeared on the table and James and Sirius dug in while Remus had of a polite manner while eating. Peter took dainty bites but stopped when he realized how hungry he was.

The four ate their way through three full course meals and now into the desserts.

"Pudding!" James groaned, "my weakness!"

James shoveled the pudding in his face while Sirius burst out laughing and started piling his plate with pudding too.

Remus laughed at his two crazy friends and their crazy food antics. When they were dismissed, the Gryffindor Prefect, who looked like they were ready to burst with pride, led the first years to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Flibberite," the Prefect said and the portrait swung open.

Remus gaped at the room behind the painting. There was an open space of couches, chairs, desks, and a roaring fireplace.

"This is the Gryffindor common room," the Prefect explained and motioned the first years to look around, "explore it because this is your room for the next seven years."

"Girls dormitory is up and to the left and same for the boys but to the right. The stairs to the girls' dormitory is enchanted. Any boy who tried to get up there will find the stairs turn into a slide."

Sirius and James smirked at the girls who rolled their eyes, Lily amongst them.

The four friends and a fifth boy ended up in the first year boys' dormitory. Remus found that their trunks were already at the foot of the beds and their belongings beside their beds.

"This is awesome!" James said and fell onto his bed.

"I smuggled my broom into Hogwarts," Sirius said pulling out his Airbender.

"So did I," James said sitting up sharply and pulling out his Airbender.

"I did too," Remus said pulling his Airbender.

Peter revealed his broom, which wasn't an Airbender, it was a good enough broom to impress anyone.

"What's your name?" Remus asked, looking at the fifth boy who seemed to have silently sneaked into the room.

"Frank Longbottom," the boy said and looked at the already four friends.

"That's right," Sirius said. "My family would know yours being a pure-blood and all."

Feeling tired, Remus could no longer fight sleep anymore.

"See you lot tomorrow," Remus said, the exhausting hitting him hard.

He did not bother changing; he did not want his new friends to see the real monster he really was so he slipped under the covers.

James, Sirius, and Peter, too, all fell asleep in a matter of moments.

However, no matter how tired he was, Remus, however, lay awake lost in his thoughts. He knew he would never be anywhere near lucky once he graduated from Hogwarts. Finding a job with his condition was nearly impossible. He would be poor in his adult life and there was nothing he could do about it. His parents were technically wealthy, not himself.

Remus thought back to the night he was contaminated with a single bite that effected his whole life; Fenrir Greyback. Pushing those dark thoughts away, he fell asleep.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I really do appreciate it.**


	4. IV: First Day at Hogwarts

**All rights remain.**

Upon waking up, Remus felt a jolt of excitement as he remembered it was the first day of classes at Hogwarts. Getting himself ready, Remus was already finished in the span of five minutes, not including showering; however, the young werewolf was fiddling with his tie by the time the four got up and got ready themselves. Even standing in front of a mirror, Remus was still struggling.

"Still having trouble?" James asked, clearly amused as he adjusted his own tie.

Remus seemed to have noticed the hinted amusement and rolled his eyes at his messy haired friend. His finger slipped and the knot he was fixing fell apart. He scowled down at it as if it had personally offended him.

"Glad my struggles amuse you," Remus said, his voice dripping with obvious sarcasm. "It's this last bit I can't get."

"Well, I'm glad your struggles amuse me, too. I was beginning to think I was the only one!" James said with a cheeky grin and helped Remus with his tie. "Hang on..."

"Thanks, mate," Remus said, experimentally tugging at it.

Sirius was admiring himself in the mirror while Peter was sitting on the edge of his bed tying his shoes. The thing was, Sirius had been admiring himself in the mirror for the past three minutes and it was beginning to border the line of ridiculousness. The Black heir was now tidying up his hair, muttering to himself as he tried to change its appearance.

"I'm hungry," James insisted and glared at Sirius. "Hurry up."

"Patience," Sirius said still not taking his eyes off himself in the mirror. "You simply cannot rush perfection."

They sat like this for an additional three minutes, waiting as Sirius rumpled it, then straightened it out, only to rumple it again. Remus could feel everyone's patience running thin...including his own.

"Okay," Remus said towing Sirius away. "You look fine. Stop admiring yourself so James can eat so we don't have to hear him complain."

Sirius laughed and followed James and Remus out of the dormitory, walking beside Peter, who was muttering about mornings and how they were decidedly the most beautiful torture method for non-morning people.

They walked down the hall and received high fives and pats on the back. Remus, who shrunk ever so slightly under the attention, merely bent his head low and tried to pass it off with a grin.

"What's going on?" James asked, turning to his new mates.

Their confusion was answered when the entered the Great Hall. The entire Gryffindor table congratulated them for pulling the first prank of the year; their biggest admirers were the two twins Remus recognized from dinner. They were infamous for their own pranks, Fabian and Gideon were the jokers of their year.

"Oh," Remus muttered under his breath. "That..."

James and Sirius seemed to soak up the attention while Remus opened his book and tried reading. However, unable to occlude his surroundings, Remus found in increasingly it difficult and Peter just stood next to James and waved occasionally at the crowd. He could not help but snort at the way James and Sirius acted like celebrities, the only thing they needed was people asking for their autographs.

The only Gryffindor who was not (who probably refused to) celebrating with them was Lily Evans, who was frowning at her plate. Remus caught her glaring in their general direction more than once.

"What's wrong, Evans?" Sirius called out, trying to catch the eye of the pretty first year.

She did a good job of ignoring the Black heir as she pretended to engage in a conversation with one of her friends. Alice, who was the one she chose, chatted happily while Lily smirked. And for the entire time, James's eyes never once left the feisty girl.

Remus wanted to tell Sirius not to start anything on their first day but he kept his mouth shut. But Sirius was not going to take Lily's silence for an answer; he wanted to get a rise out of her.

"Come on, Evans! We've got a free agent!" Sirius shouted, pointing at James, who wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Lily threw him an annoyed look and turned to her friend Alice Prewett to resume their conversation. The two of them pointedly turned their backs on them and tossed their hair over their shoulder like those seriously cliché girls Remus always disliked.

However, though he would never admit it, he could understand why James could not keep his eyes off Lily Evans. She was far too pretty.

"Evans?" James called out.

Lily groaned audibly, making sure James could hear it from the other side of the table. James retaliated slightly, stung by the rudeness but he pressed on. He cleared his throat loud enough for her to hear across the table.

"Oi," James said. "Where are you headed to?"

However, his attempts had failed. James frowned slightly at Lily as she threw him a scornful look and Remus sent a sympathetic glance over at his friend.

"Oi, Evans!"

Lily continued to ignore the two boys who tried to get her attention. James tried to hide his utter disappointment by jeering at Snape, who was passing the Gryffindor table with his nose in a book.

"Oi, greasy git! Sirius, look! It's Snivellus!" James shouted, waving Sirius down.

Remus thought James was taking it a bit too far but he did not say anything because he, himself, was trying to disguise his amusement, by hiding his face behind the book completely.

"That greasy git thinks he's so cool," James sneered at Sirius, who snickered in agreement

"He looks like he hasn't heard of taking a shower," Sirius said and curled his lip back in the pleasure of sneering at the Slytherin first year.

"Sirius," Remus murmured in a half-hearted attempt warning.

"What?" James said with a nasty grin.

"His hair will suffer; it makes hair in chicken grease look clean," Sirius called out, roaring with laughter.

"Oi, James," Remus said, looking up from his book, and deciding to somehow subtly stop his friends. "You said you were hungry. Let's eat."

James seemed to ponder this, waved off the crowd (much to Sirius's disappointment), and started filling his plate with food. Sirius followed in suit, muttering about the decency of a life of never ending attention. That, most definitely, had Remus rolling his eyes.

The young werewolf was munching lazily on an apple while flipping through his book as if he was trying to memorize its text in the span of thirty minutes or less. Breakfast could not have come any sooner. Remus was dying to get to class and listening to people congratulate him for breaking the rules.

Professor McGonagall was walking about the Great Hall, handing out student's schedules whilst calling out their names in hopes of making this transaction quicker. Remus watched her for a few moments then went back to reading his book. When she came over to them, Remus set the book down and listened intently.

"Prewett—"

"Here!" Fabian and Gideon said together.

Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes and handed Fabian his schedule and Gideon his. However, the twins wanted to show off to the new first years and what's a better way to impress them by annoying Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" Gideon said, shooting his hand up in the air. "Professor, you gave me Fabian's schedule."

"This is like Mum all over again!" Fabian said with a troubled and very staged sigh. "Sending us the wrong letters."

"I do apologize," Professor McGonagall said, readjusting her hat.

The twins shook their heads sadly.

"It's a pity but they are identical so it wouldn't have mattered anyway!" Gideon chirped, earning a very Professor McGonagall-ish glare.

"And you actually can tell us apart," Fabian chimed in. "Better than Mum though. We weren't lying about that bit."

"You two," Professor McGonagall said angrily. "I do not have time for your antics! Stop corrupting the first years!"

Remus rolled his eyes fondly at the twins, who were getting a rumbling laugh from their crowd. They were both waving like kings would wave to their people. James and Sirius exchanged looks as if they were sharing the same thought.

Remus bit his lip, not wanting to ask what those two had in mind and conniving. They were wearing identical grins, which could honestly mean only bad things. Why was he friends with them? Oh, yes. He was going to live with them for the next seven years of his life. His new friends did an excellent job reminding him.

"It is now time to proceed to your classes!"

Those words seriously could not have come sooner. Without further ado, Remus was the first to rise from the table, collecting his things in a flurry and raced out of the Great Hall before the mob could hold him back.

"Oi, what are you running from?" James huffed, racing to catch up.

Sirius and Peter were also jogging to catch up with the werewolf, their book bags swinging wildly on their shoulders, probably hitting everyone they passed.

"Nothing," Remus said casually. "I just want to get to class."

"Mate, in a few weeks, that eager attitude will wear off," Sirius snorted and patted Remus on the back with a smirk.

"Yes and all thanks to you," Remus said, returning the sarcastic pat.

With that, he zipped down a different hall, letting himself blend into the crowd as he took a different route to the dungeons.

The three of them, excluding Remus, made their way to the Dungeons for their first lesson, which was Potions. Remus was already standing in the back, waiting for instructions like the rest of the class.

"I am Professor Hayes," the man said, pacing back and forth. "I am fling in for Professor Slughorn, who has temporarily taken a well-earned and deserved break. He will, no doubt, be coming back. Some of you may recognize him as the Head of the Slytherin House."

He caught sight of every Gryffindor face looking back at him.

"Now, you musn't think poorly of Professor Slughorn. He truly is a good mentor."

"Slytherin," Sirius snorted.

Again, Remus knew why Sirius disliked Slytherin so much. It was the mere reflection of his family and if he had become a Slytherin, it meant it was not he, who would finally be the one to stand against his family. It was an important role to Sirius for he truly believed it would be who put an end to the Black family discrimination.

"Today," Professor Hayes said and started pacing the Dungeons. "We will review the twelve uses for dragon blood, aconite, and bezoars and their affects they have in in potions."

He spread his arms out wide and the chairs slid back, allowing students room to sit down.

"Why don't you take your pick?"

To no one's surprise, the four new friends sat together, four at a table. Professor Hayes was back at the front, writing down their topic for the lesson.

Remus already knew the answers but he took out his parchment to write notes in with his quill and ink. Surprisingly, the class continued to drag on until James nudged Remus.

"What?" Remus whispered.

"Take this," James whispered back.

James looked around and tossed him a blank piece of parchment. Remus just stared at it until words started forming.

-Oi, does this work for everyone? -J

-Whoa! What is this? -S

-How _does_ this work? -R

Remus _was_ fascinated at the peculiar piece if parchment and how it worked, despite its distracting ways that kept him from focusing on his class notes. On the contrary, to his reluctance, Remus pushed away his notes.

-My dad enchanted this parchment for me. He didn't make it for this purpose—this was all my thinking -J

-You are a genius, do you hear? -S

-Now, we could pass notes. I have a few extra too.

-What about this bright light? -R

-The glowing can only be seen by us four. -J

-This is crazy! -P

-I know! It's great though. -J

-Why isn't Remus saying anything, anymore? -S

-Check what he is doing, Peter. -J

Peter looked over at Remus and shook his head with a slight smile. He nudged Remus but only received a glare in response.

Peter mouthed "sorry" and threw his hands up in the air before turning back to his own parchment, bending over, and hastily scribbling his response.

-He's taking notes. -P

-He's choosing notes over us? -J

-Yes. -R

-HOW NICE OF YOU TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION! -S

-It's hard to ignore a glowing parchment. -R

-Why are you taking notes? -J

-Yeah, this is so easy to understand. -S

-Not really. . . -P

-Yes it is. -J

-So what if this is easy? It's good to pay attention and listen. -R

The class was dismissed without any homework (leaving the students in a fairly good mood already). The four friends hung back and waited for the classroom to clear out before they walked out. However, James insisted on staying because Lily Evans was lingering back as well. James was convinced they were a match made in Heaven.

"Oi, James," Sirius said, looking down at his schedule. "Didn't you tell me before that your favorite class is Transfiguration?"

"Yeah," James said.

"It's next."

Transfiguration was something that always sparked James's interest and Professor McGonagall launched right into their lesson, giving a very brief introduction.

"This is a very practical class," Professor McGonagall continued to say. "Stay up to date and you will do well."

For a demonstration, she waved her wand and transfigured a match into a needle. The students leaned forward in amazement and some even "oooed" and "ahhhed" as if they weren't witches and wizards.

With another flick of Professor McGonagall's wand, she separated matches from a box to each student. They were to turn a match into a needle.

"It's not unusual if you don't get it the first day but I expect it to be done by this week."

"What kind of wand do you have?" Sirius asked, noticing Remus's wand.

Remus studied his brown wand.

"Twelve inches, thestral tooth and a dragon scale, why? I don't believe the intention of making this wand was for Transfiguration—it would have looked like James's wand."

"Thestral?" Peter echoed.

Remus rolled his eyes. His wand was supposedly a bad omen, a thestral can only be seen by those who have witnessed death, which put many under the impression that it was an omen.

"It's not an omen," Remus sighed patiently. "And it's not uncommon either. I know a load of people who have the same core as I do."

Peter did not object but merely continued to work on his spell. Remus, James, and Sirius, and two Ravenclaw first years were the only ones who managed to turn their matches into needles by the middle of the class. Awarding points to the two houses, Professor McGonagall looked most fondly at her Gryffindor students.

"Turns out you two are pretty bright," Remus joked with a pronounced smirk.

"And that's a surprise?" James asked with a grin, and then added with an air of laughter. "It is like you said, my wand was built for Transfiguration."

"Help me," Peter moaned from Remus's left.

Remus observed Peter's performance and corrected him on a few things. By the end of the class, he managed to give his match a pointy end.

"Good job, Peter," Remus praised, noticing Peter's dejected look.

By the end of class, Professor McGonagall had watched all of her students, taking further and additional notes. She was that kind of stern and strict professor who taught a very important subject and took it very seriously.

However, she dismissed her class and wished them all a good first day to the first years.

"Where to next?" Sirius asked the class was out in the bustling corridors (their only homework was to perfect the spell).

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," James muttered then brightened. "But lunch is after that!"

The four boys hurried off to their next class, which was on the second floor. Professor Hilret, who was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, seemed very tense with this class for he brusquely introduced himself and started straight away at the lesson he was teaching. What seemed even more bizarre was how he glared at Remus whenever he perfected the spells the professor was performing.

"I don't think Professor Hilret likes me," Remus said to James, who was paired with him after they learned the Knockback Jinx.

"Honestly, I'd agree," James said. "He got annoyed with you after you caught on with the wand-lighting charm, and Curse of the Bogies.

"I don't think so either and that's weird because you're great at every class."

"Stop," Professor Hilret said sharply and strode over to Remus in three big strides.

"I'll show you a real spell."

Shoving James away and standing in front of Remus, he pointed his wand straight at Remus's face.

"_Verdimillious_!"

Remus felt everything behind crack and explode making him cover his head and many students screamed.

"That's one way not to duel," Professor Hilret said lazily. "A real duel will not have jinxes and hexes flying around, but real curses that could leave real damage."

"_Verd—_"

"—_Expelliarmus_."

Remus said instinctively and Professor Hilret's wand flew out of his hand with a clatter. Remus did not know how he managed; he had only watched Professor McGonagall perform that spell on him and only trying it to find out that he could not succeed.

"I don't recall me giving you instructions to disarm me, Lupin?" Professor Hilret said softly and strode up to him.

Remus was lost for words and if he were to say anything, it was not going to be nice so he forced his mouth shut. He glared at Remus, giving the students the impression that he was annoyed that a student had disarmed him, but Remus knew that there was something else Professor Hilret did not like about him.

"_Expelliarmus_," Professor Hilret said to the whole class, "is the disarming charm in which Lupin had so _wonderfully _demonstrated."

Remus felt himself get angrier but swallowed it down, taking a deep breath to settle his agitation. But when the class was dismissed, James, Sirius, and Peter walked in silence next to Remus, who was still seething.

"It's not my fault!" Remus said furiously. "I didn't know what he was going to do."

"I'm not saying it was," James said and looked over his shoulder. "I don't like him much either."

"That's pretty crazy that you can do that though. Disarming takes some serious practice," Sirius added.

"I did it instinctively," Remus sighed and pulled out his wand. "I was foolish enough to believe he'd fire a hex at me."

James patted him reassuringly on the back and they sat at the Gryffindor table and much to James's delight, there sat Lily Evans and Alice Prewett.

"Hey, Evans," James called.

Lily did not give James a sideways glance.

"Oi, what's with her?" James huffed. "She acts like she's too good for me."

That seemed to get Lily's attention.

"Your ego makes you think your Merlin's gift! Bullying Snape to only make you feel more superior is 'what is with me'!"

Remus started to get the impression that James fancied Lily Evans for he would look at her in such a way that he would never look at another girl like that and he kept looking over to his right, hoping to catch the redhead's gaze.

James seemed lost for words; Lily scoffed and turned her back pointedly on them. The rest of the day was boring and exhausting. The four, one being reluctant, passed notes for the rest of the day.

It took quite some persuading from the other boys to make Remus promise he would engage in the notes and after a struggle, he finally gave in and obliged. By the time the Great Hall was filled with mingling students of all ages, Remus had already finished reading Hogwarts: A History.

"Still reading?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Remus replied vaguely, not looking up from his new book.

"Do you ever stop reading?" James questioned, arching his eyebrow at his friend.

"No," was all Remus said, not taking his eyes off the pages of his book.

James rolled his eyes in amusement at his friend before eating.

"I'm going to the library for a bit," Remus said suddenly getting up; he stowed away his books and swung his book bag over his shoulder.

"Er—okay," Sirius said, a bit taken aback by Remus's sudden announcement. "See you around."

And with that, Remus disappeared.

* * *

**Seriously, thanks for reading!**


	5. V: First Full Moon

**All rights remain.**

Remus found himself back in his bed (he could not remember much after he left the library he was so exhausted) with a book folded across his stomach.

Remus stirred and looked up. He saw Sirius, James, Peter, and Frank Longbottom each lying in their own beds still asleep. Glancing over at the glaring red numbers the clock read 6:15.

Remus did not mind getting up early but he did not prefer it. Getting ready early, he quietly left the dormitory and sneaked outside to sit underneath a beech tree beside the lake.

The one thing Remus liked was some solitude. He pulled out his wand and practiced levitating various objects from branches to rocks.

Birds chirped and the sun climbed its way up the sky making the sky pink. He enjoyed the sunrise and the warm breeze that rustled the leaves on the ground and the breeze that made the grass sway.

Remus looked at his wristwatch and jumped a little; it was already 6:50 and breakfast was going to be anytime soon, as would the appearance of his friends. He hastily packed all of his books, which were scattered around him, and walked to the Great Hall. There he saw a groggy Sirius, James, and Peter all at the table as he predicted.

"Where were you?" James asked after a yawn.

Remus took an apple, biding his time to answer.

"Just reading down by the lake, you know, by that beech tree."

"Of course," Sirius mumbled, "Pass me the jam."

Remus obliged and Sirius slapped jam on his toast. His tired expression disappeared as soon as the jam reached his toast; he was grinning when he ate it. Evidently, it was some good jam.

"It's Tuesday, Remus!" Peter said, catching what Remus was doing.

"So?" he said vaguely.

"We didn't have any homework besides that spell we had to practice," Peter protested, taking a swig of his delicious marmalade.

"I know," Remus said. "I was just reading to pass the time. I was up pretty early and none of you were so I had to do something. Were you expecting me to sit there and twiddle my thumbs?"

They laughed in response.

James, Sirius, and Peter made their way down to their classes once again to find themselves in the same situation as yesterday. Peter was confused, James and Sirius immediately understanding the concept and didn't give it a sideways glance afterward, and Remus taking notes and perfecting everything...and not to mention managing to anger Professor Hilret even more.

"I still don't understand this and Professor McGonagall is making me write an essay on this!" Peter said dejectedly.

"It's not that bad," Remus said optimistically.

"For you maybe" Peter grumbled and flipped open his book.

Remus looked up at the darkening sky with uneasiness. He swallowed back his fear and glanced away. He was sitting in the Great Hall when the doors swung open and Professor Dumbledore emerged.

"Mr. Lupin, I would like to see you in my office," he said with a calm demeanor.

Several students turned to see what the Headmaster was doing and what he wanted exactly with Remus. But for some reason, the student did not look the slightest bit fazed by this sudden declaration.

Sirius leaned over to whisper to Remus. "You didn't do anything wrong, what would he want you for?"

Remus shrugged but looked indifferent. "Dunno, maybe he needs to talk to me about my schedule."

"Are you kidding me? I don't think that's it," James snorted and nodded at Professor McGonagall. "Something tells me she is not happy about something; definitely uneasy, eh?"

Sirius gave him a questioning look but Remus already was walking away without looking back at his confused friends. He followed Professor Dumbledore to the Hospital Wing. The entire time he was wondering what in the world he would say to his friends to explain this untimely disappearance. He began to plot in his head and make lists of excuses that were believable enough.

His mind was interrupted at: Had detention with Professor McGonagall because Lily Evans, that crazy redhead, caught me eating in the library: when they stopped at a large set of double, dark oaken doors.

"This is it?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This is it," Professor Dumbledore confirmed.

He knocked softly and not a moment later, a lady appeared. She was a bit older but not that old. Despite her age and her height (she was a bit on the shorter side), she was crisp to the point.

"This is Madam Pomfrey, Remus. She will escort you to the Whomping Willow with each full moon. She will excuse you from classes and will try to make sure you have a good reason for your disappearance to tell your friends," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile.

"That's right," the young werewolf said to himself. "I will have to explain this to my friends every month. How am I going to do that?"

"Don't worry," Madam Pomfrey said briskly. "I will come up with some excuses for you, Lupin. No one argues with the authority here."

"I dunno," Remus said uncertain. "My mates argue with the professors all the time...just ask Professor McGonagall. I am pretty sure she is finishing the day with migraines because of them."

"Don't you worry," Madam Pomfrey said with a reassuring smile. "I am here to help."

Remus cast him a worried glance at Dumbledore but he gave him a reassuring nod.

"You will rest here for the day and I will escort you to the Whomping Willow when it is time," Madam Pomfrey said and forced him to lie on the bed in the hospital wing. "But you have to lay here and _stay_! Heaven knows how hard that is for an eleven year old."

Remus, confused on what he was supposed to do now, looked at the ceiling of the hospital wing, wishing that he were with his friends. But she was absolutely right, he was having a difficult time trying to sit still. He wanted to be up and doing things even if his body was aching and screaming with exhaustion and the dull pain.

"Why don't you try taking a nap?" Madam Pomfrey asked when she noticed Remus's discomfort. "Getting in some extra sleep won't hurt; you are going to have a bit of a rough first moon tonight."

Remus could not argue with that so he did his best to close his eyes and sleep it off. It took some time and actual effort but he managed to pass himself into a slumber.

_~Remus looked up with a start, his heart racing, thumping painfully against his ribs as he looked around. His surroundings looked completely unfamiliar to him as he continued to scan the area._

_But emerging from nowhere, came three figures that looked like his friends. Narrowing his eyes, Remus could just make out the glasses on one of the figure's face. He got to his feet and started walking towards them._

_"What's going on?" Remus asked as soon as they came into view._

_Remus was right, the three figures were his friends, looking at him with expressionless faces, apparently waiting for him to say more._

_"I dunno what's really happening," Remus said but stopped short._

_Together, he and his friends looked up at the sky; the clouds parted to reveal the moon's radiant glow. With a cry of agony and anger, Remus doubled over as he began to feel the transformation; his eyes were fixed upon the moon that was reflecting in his, now, golden eyes._

_He could dimly see James, Peter, and Sirius back away as he continued to transform. With a weak cry, Remus tried to form words but found the effort of speaking was too much and he collapsed on the ground, his insides were writhing in agony._

_"Wait!" Remus hissed through gritted teeth. "I'm not a monster!"_

_"Monster is what you are," James said coolly, not hearing what Remus was saying._

_Remus shook his head, frantically looking around, until everything turned black.~_

Remus sat upright, rubbing his sore back as he sat up too quickly. His breathing became heavy and his heart was hammering against his chest. Madam Pomfrey was coming towards him and with a jolt, realized that he had slept through the day.

This was why he did not like to sleep.

"Come on, Mr. Lupin," Madam Pomfrey said motioning him to follow.

Remus followed and said nothing the entire walk. He had no idea where he was going and he was about to point out how unwise it was to set loose a werewolf on Hogwarts grounds, but she walked right past the courtyard and towards a hill that led to the secluded part of the lake.

Confused, Remus opened his mouth to ask where exactly she was taking him (if they told him earlier, he definitely forgot) but something interrupted him. A little ways off was the lake but they came to a tree. It was thick and a bit on the stout side but the branches moved. It was as if the tree was alive.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Remus asked cautiously.

'Yes," Madam Pomfrey said and whipped out her wand, she gave it a little wave and said: "_Immobulous_."

The tree's branches immediately stopped swaying and the it became still. Remus clenched his teeth and trailed after Madam Pomfrey, really wishing he was anywhere but here.

She took him to the base of the trunk; there she stomped her foot on a knot on the trunk. She proceeded into the trunk and pointed her finger at the trunk.

"This knot freezes the tree if you cannot remember the spell. Just reach for a long stick and prod the knot. It works every time. We planted this tree for your use and the tunnel you are going to use will is built for your use."

"What exactly is this though?" Remus asked, motioning to the violent tree.

"All right, Lupin, this is the Whomping Willow. This tunnel that the tree is guarding will lead you to the Shrieking Shack. There, you will find shelter during the full moon," Madam Pomfrey explained. "You will be safe there.

"What about my friends? What will I tell them?" Remus asked anxiously.

"You can tell them that Professor McGonagall wanted to see you after class but you left early and she wanted to see you after dinner to discuss her essay for her class. Afterwards, your mother sent an owl to the Headmaster asking if you could spend the night at home. She was feeling ill," Madam Pomfrey suggested and started him forward, noticing the reluctance in the first year.

Remus nodded in understanding and just stared at the mouth of the tunnel.

"Go on," she prompted.

"Right..."

He walked in, finding himself facing stairs carved from the slanted stone. It was a dark passageway and Remus felt even more reluctant; he followed the trail. He thought there was no end but he found a ladder that led upward. Curious, Remus climbed the ladder and found himself looking in the Shrieking Shack.

In the Shrieking Shack, it was old, dusty and creepy. When he emerged from the floor passage, and after climbing the stairs he found himself in an old dusty room. He blinked at the sight and sat down and waited for the arrival of the full moon.

_And there it was._

He felt himself go rigid as he stared straight at the full moon. He faced his only enemy with dignity. He started to shake uncontrollably as the moon's glow started to take effect. A small groan escaped his lips but he was unable to scream. Fire surged through his body like a rampaging forest fire. His bones started to mend and form into longer and denser bones. He cried out but was cut off by a gasp as Remus fell to the ground arching his back, his spine forming, and his muscle becoming more powerful.

Remus, gasping, fell to the floor, writhing in a mess of blood and sweat. He could feel the fire of pain dance up and down his body as it consumed him. Remus could remember very well what his transformation for the first time was like; they had told him it would get easier once he became used to the transformations yet he was still wishing death upon himself over enduring the transformation for another minute.

Luckily, Remus's mind was slowly losing itself in the mind of a werewolf's. His pain seemed to have subsided, his screaming ripped into howls, and his body seemed to absorb the pain. He was on his hands and knees one moment, clutching his head as his bones shifted its shape. Crying out for alleviation, for help, for comfort, for anything but the agony he was enduring, Remus felt himself blacking out.

However, he knew he was just losing himself.

The werewolf reared, snapping its jaws as it emerged in its new skin. Breathing heavily, the werewolf merely stood there, closing its eyes, finally happy to be free. It pricked its ears, tongue hanging out as it looked about the dusty old room. Its heightened sense seemed to capture the littlest traces of blood falling from its forearm. The werewolf growled low in its throat and began lapping the crimson liquid.

His nails turned black and his eyes turned from blue to gold. He thought of his friends but then realized he was alone for his friends were unaware of his condition. Hair sprouted from his body and his thoughts and mind became blurred. It was as if someone was dimming the lights, the vision became darker each passing second, and Remus began to forget everything. Soon he remembered nothing but craved for one thing: human flesh.

* * *

James narrowed his eyes and whispered fiercely to Sirius and Peter, "Where is Remus? He did not even seem concerned that he was taken away. I know that is not Remus to act like nothing is wrong."

Peter sighed and set down his book.

"If you are that concerned for Remus, we could go ask where he is."

Sirius perked up at the idea to go looking for his missing friend. The boys slipped their shoes on, changed back into their robes, filed out of their dorm closing the door softly behind them, and stood in front of the fire conjuring a plan. Spontaneously, Lily came down followed by Alice who was still dressed in their robes.

"What are you doing down here?" Alice asked curiously, looking from Sirius to Peter to James.

James stood rigid and eyed them with suspicion.

"I could ask you the same question, eh?"

"We were studying, Potter," Lily said coldly as she spoke.

"Let's get out of here," Peter muttered as he nudged his friends out of the portrait hole and out to the empty corridor.

They started walking, not stopping until they rounded three corners and headed down a flight of stairs. James stopped them a little ways down a corridor and pulled out a cloak from his pocket.

"Cool, the cloak," Sirius said.

James threw the cloak over the three.

"Let's get going, I have a feeling this won't be easy," James hissed once the three were huddled underneath the large cloak.

The party of three ran all the way to the hospital wing (occasionally treading on one another's feet).

"Why are we here?" Sirius hissed, nearly falling over the hem of the cloak.

"I heard a group of sixth years saying they saw a boy being escorted here by Dumbledore," James replied, looking around.

"When did you hear this?" Peter asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion.

"When we were coming up," James said and straightened up.

He looked around again before taking off the cloak before entering, James shoved it back in his pocket and pushed the double oak doors open. Madam Pomfrey was bustling about her office room when she stopped at the sight of the boys.

"What are you doing up?" she said at once, sounding sharp.

James looked surprised but regained his posture immediately, thinking quickly of what he wanted to say and how he wanted to.

"You know where Remus is."

"Remus is with Professor McGonagall discussing his essay he is to write for her class, After that, he has to go home. His mother sent a letter asking Professor Dumbledore if he could stay the night," Madam Pomfrey said as she continued to walk around the hospital wing.

James raised his eyebrow suspiciously but said slowly.

"Right then."

They turned back without another word and headed off to their dorms to fall asleep. James was the last to fall asleep as he stay awake longer staring at the bright moon wondering what else was staring at the same exact moon.

* * *

Remus came back sore and exhausted. The potions he had forced down his throat helped a great deal though his body still ached and screamed in protest with each step he forced himself to take.

But when his friends came into view, his mind became less fixed on the full moon and he happily joined his friends in the Great Hall for breakfast where his friends were eating. They grinned when Remus entered and made room for him on the bench, motioning to the large plate of food they made for him.

"How is your mother feeling?" Sirius asked, helping himself to more marmalade.

"She is doing much better, Mum is confident in her healing abilities though she was rather overwhelmed," Remus said with a nod and took a sip of marmalade from his goblet and looking down at his food, he realized how hungry he was.

"That's good," Peter said with a good natured grin that made Remus nearly winced for it was the fact that he had to lie to his best friends to keep them.

Remus trekked up the stairs to Transfiguration with his friends after their thirty minutes of conversing and eating was done. Transfiguration was three flights above them and climbing stairs after the transformation made it much more difficult to disguise his pain. Luckily, his friends did not seem to notice for they were all busy trying to reach the top of the stairs first.

In the middle of Remus's note taking his spare piece of parchment, that was resting a ways off on his desk, started to glow, as did Peter's, who was sitting next to him. Remus exchanged glances with Peter who shrugged and looked at his own parchment. Remus looked down and saw James's familiar handwriting.

-I'm bored! -J

-So am I. -S

-Then pay attention. -R

-You came to join the conversation finally. -S

-*rolls eyes* Professor McGonagall is talking about Avifors Spell. -R

-I wonder if her classes have been more interesting before. -P

-I see you've come to join too! -J

-Now everyone is here! -S

-No. -J

-Where is Remus? -S

-What is he doing, Peter? -J

Peter, who was sitting closest to Remus, peered over his shoulder and started scribbling on the parchment his answer.

-Taking notes. -P

Remus rolled his eyes in amusement as James and Sirius both glared at Remus for choosing his notes over responding but it did not bother him, mostly because this happened nearly every class.

The class was dismissed after they were finished practicing Avifors Spells; not many had been able to master the spell, those who didn't had to write a brief essay about how to perform it and why it would be useful. Peter groaned as he was one of the ones to fail to perform it; James was the first to in the class, then Remus and Sirius. But by the end of it, Remus was ready to go for he collected his books and made a fast break to leave but Professor McGonagall had already called him to her desk.

"Professor?" Remus asked, nervously fumbling with his book bag's strap that was on his shoulder.

"How are you, Remus?" McGonagall asked as she surveyed him over the rim of her glasses.

"Fine, thanks," Remus said, his eyes darted around the room, "m-may I go?"

"There was something I was actually hoping to talk to you about, Lupin."

Remus's heart sank a little as if he knew it was going to be something he did not want to hear but he forced himself to say put and listen to what the she had to say.

"To my understanding, it was Professor Hilret that did not like you?"

"Sorry?" Remus asked, slightly confused.

"Is that true, Lupin?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Remus said earnestly, his blue eyes were clouding with confusion as Professor McGonagall continued to look at him. Remus kept his mouth shut as she continued.

"Because you're different," she finished and sighed, "I know he may have not been the best choice but he was the one willing fill in the Defense Against the Dark Arts post."

"It's only because he doesn't like me," Remus said, suddenly finding his voice, "he doesn't like me because I'm a werewolf. I don't think that was in the description. But what am I to do about that?"

"My apologies," she said and started filing through her papers, giving Remus the silent message of departure. So he spun on his heels and quickly walked away, not wanting to be interrogated any longer. His friends were waiting right outside the door for him but with a shake of his head, he indicated that he was in no mood to speak about it.

His friends obeyed and steered their conversation to their next class, grateful for the distraction of Professor McGonagall's words. Professor Hilret had given his class his usual brief introduction and launched straight into their lesson, wasting no time in explanations. By the time twenty minutes had passed, the class was halfway done with reading their chapter and already had two rolls of parchments dedicated to the notes. Professor Hilret was pacing around the room the whole class period, looking over their shoulders to see their progress. It was only until class ended did he stop and face the class.

"Your homework is to write a three paragraph essay on the defensive spells," he said, raising his hands to the small groans he received from the class though The Marauders kept silent. He did not say another but turned to go to his office.

Remus felt a string of dislike unravel from deep inside his mind and chest as he watched him barricade himself in his office with one last suspicious look over his shoulder to the class.

"Ready?" James asked, looking confused at what the first year was staring at. Remus nodded and slowly followed the others out and to their next class. The entire day consisted of taking notes, and in their very last class of the day, Remus was so sure he was going to fall asleep in Professor Binns's class, he prevented himself from doing so by using James's enchanted parchment.

-Merlin, this class is boring. -R

-Save this! We'll never hear Remus bash another class again! -S

-Amusing. -R

-I fell asleep. -J

-Hear, hear. -P

-I cannot believe that we have to listen to this ghost drag on about his lectures about the history of the Wizarding World. It would be much more interesting if he was not so monotonic. -J

-I can vouch for that. -R

-*yawns* g'night. -S

Remus felt his eyelids drooping himself as he pushed the parchment away and rested his head in his arms, like the rest of the class was doing. Professor Binns never looked up from his book so he never noticed his class falling asleep.

But when the class was dismissed, Remus woke with a start and looked around. Feeling sheepish, he collected his things and hurried out of the room with his friends close behind. They made their way (drowsily) to the Great Hall but immediately perked up at the delicious scent of food.

Students bustled about the Great Hall, talking with one another, while eating away their dinners. But Remus had a quick dinner then with a wave to his friends, he clambered back to the common room, greeted the Fat Lady, and headed straight to the dormitory. He kicked off his shoes and closed his eyes, not bothering with the covers, lights, nor his clothes. He could only fathom how tired he was and how sleep felt so wonderful.


	6. VI: The Marauders

**All rights remain.**

"Where were you?" James asked as Remus woke up.

Remus groaned, taking in James's words, he sat up and looked at his friend in genuine confusion for he did not know what his friend meant. But suddenly, it came rushing back.

"I told you, someone had fallen ill so I had to help—"

"—then why do you have bandages on your wrist?" James interjected, pointing at Remus's hands and wrists.

"Got hurt," Remus said simply and swung his feet around to stand up, every muscle in his body shrieked but he ignored it.

"How?" James snapped.

Remus sighed, feeling his patience wear thin. However, for the sake of everything, Remus had to keep his expression impassive, his demeanor impossible to read, and his thoughts to himself.

There were days were Remus just wanted to tell his new mates everything but the rational voice in his head always had him holding his tongue. He knew his friends would run away, turn their backs to him in disgust, anger filling in their eyes for ever letting them befriend a monster. Remus had seen it before in other children and even in other adults, he had seen it in his childhood. It was something he would not wish upon his worst enemy.

"What?" Remus asked.

James squared his shoulders, taking a step forward. Remus wanted to shrink away, finding it too difficult to look at James but finding it impossible to look away. He held his ground.

"What are you hiding?" the bespectacled friend asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at his friend.

"Who said I was hiding anything?" Remus replied irritably, not being able to keep the harshness from his voice.

He bit his lip and stared at James with indifferent eyes. The look in James's eyes had his insides shriveling up with guilt, sobs wanting to rip themselves from his throat and rack his body until the secret was forced to come out. But he held his tongue. It was the only thing he knew how to do. However, James continued to watch with such scrutiny, Remus wondered if James was secretly reading his thoughts.

"Just the way your acting does," James said with a steely tone that made Remus pause for the briefest moment.

By now Sirius and Peter have joined the conversation and the four walked to the Great Hall for breakfast; helping themselves to food kept the silence between them that Remus loved to hear.

"I've got to go," Remus said abruptly.

The werewolf got to his feet, slinging his book bag on his shoulder and a book tucked underneath the other. He started to walk away and James followed after him but Sirius pulled him down.

"What are you doing?" Sirius hissed in James's ear.

James glared at him.

"I am going to talk to him."

Sirius released James.

"Then Peter and I are coming with you. Just give us a minute—we are as interested in where Remus goes as much as you but we are hungry."

Peter, Sirius, and James all raced after Remus who was quickly walking away cursing under his breath, casting worried glances over his shoulder and relaxed when he saw no one coming. He slowed his pace and rubbed his weary eyes; he ran a hand through his hair in a nervous manner, something James always does when he tries to get a girl's attention.

"Remus, wait," Sirius called from behind.

Hearing that voice made Remus's stomach drop to his shoes and he started walking faster trying to avoid his friends, his bag swinging wildly on his shoulder, threatening to fall off.

"What gives, Remus?" James growled and quickened his pace.

James could tell Remus was itching to run so he broke out into a sprint and tackled the young werewolf to the floor. In his defense, he slipped and managed to hit Remus in the side, which counted for tackling Remus to the ground.

"What?" Remus asked irritably, wincing as he rubbed his bruising knees. "What do you want?"

"For you to stop walking away from us when we need to talk," James replied but now he had Remus pinned to the floor.

"I'm not talking right now." Remus snapped; he shoved the stronger boy off him and started doubling back to the dormitory.

"Bloody hell, Remus! Just talk to us. You're being a bloody git!" James shouted and ran after Remus.

The poor werewolf already turned down a different corridor and walked inside an empty classroom, locking the door with shaking hands. With his barricade finished, Remus sat back and listened in horror as his friends came pounding at the door.

James, Sirius, and Peter ran after him, colliding into each other on the way. The three came to a skidding halt, panting. They tugged hard on the handle of the door that Remus locked but it would not budge. James resorted to pounding on the door with his hands or feet.

"Open this door!" James roared; there was no answer.

Remus clamped his mouth shut, still backing away from the door in sheer fear.

"Remus, I know you're in there." Peter said more calmly and much more quietly.

James yanked on the door handle and pounded on the door again.

"I will blast this door down, Remus!" James yelled, thrusting his hand in his robes, evidently looking for his wand. "I will count to three and you will open this door, Remus! _Do you hear me_?"

James and Peter pulled out their wands.

"ONE."

"Open the door, Remus," Peter said loudly, dancing on the spot.

"TWO."

"Alohomora," Peter said, hearing the door unlock. But he did not dare try to reach for it in case James reached three.

"THREE."

"James, the door is unlocked," Peter said, pointing at the handle with his wand.

He spoke with calmness to his much angrier friend but even his own voice was shaking with worry. And at that precise moment, James raised his wand and Peter stuffed his fingers in his ears.

"_BOMBARDA MAXIMA_!" James hollered and flew backward as the wall blew up.

Remus, who was standing directly on the other side of the door, was blasted back and felt pain flash through his head. Groaning, he sat up through the debris and looked at the state at the classroom.

Having little time to marvel and fathom how James was able to perform such a powerful spell, Remus stood up and looked at his friends. Sirius coughed clearing away the dust and standing up, helping James and Peter to their feet.

"We are in so much trouble," Peter said looking at the blasted wall with an exasperated expression.

Remus coughed and wiped away the blood trickling down from his temple and the corner of his mouth.

"_James, are you bloody insane_?"

James dusted off his robes and looked sheepishly at Remus.

"In the heat of the moment I forgot the a_lohomora_ spell that unlocks locked doors. But I saw my mum use it once," James said flashing another sheepish grin. "I wanted to try it and since she shouted and it worked better—I just thought if you shouted the spell at the top of your lungs, it would be more effective."

Before anyone else could say anything, Professor McGonagall, of all the teachers in Hogwarts (who happened to be the most strict out of them all), came rushing in to see what caused the disturbing noise.

"What happened to the wall?" McGonagall asked shrilly, her face paled as her eyes landed on the four boys.

"We may or may not have blown it down," James said, giving the Professor an innocent grin.

Professor McGonagall let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She really did love children but those four were starting to change her opinion on that matter.

"What am I going to do with _you four_? Just follow me and _please_ don't destroy anything else!"

The four boys followed Professor McGonagall and assumed they were heading towards her office. No later than they had thought this, she hurried down a flight of stairs and turned abruptly into a very spacey and neat room. It was her office.

"I'm sure you have a good reason for blasting down the door, Mr. Potter."

"Well, you're in luck because I do," James said, shooting Remus a glare. "If my dearest friend, Remus, would have just stopped to talk to us and listen to us, I wouldn't have blasted the door down."

"That's the reason?" Professor McGonagall asked in disbelief. "_That's the reason_?"

Another loud bang echoed off the corridor walls and Professor McGonagall let out an impatient sigh.

"Just a moment," she said walking out then added, "_stay here!_"

"On that matter," Sirius added quickly, looking over to where Professor McGonagall had disappeared to. "We're taking this office for just a moment."

Sirius slammed the door shut and locked it, and for good measure, he leaned against the door.

"Sorry, Professor! We just need to talk!" James shouted through the door and whipped around to face the young werewolf.

Remus, however, was looking at Sirius with the most shocked expression.

"You can't do that!" he protested.

"I just did," Sirius said and fixed his friend with a sincere concern expression. "Now what's up, Remus? I'm worried about you."

"Nothing, all right!" Remus snapped.

Being the good student that he was, Remus pointedly glared at his three mates and walked over to let the professor in. Professor McGonagall looked livid as she stormed into her office.

"I never trust you four to be in my office alone."

"Nothing happened, Professor," James said, still glaring at Remus.

"What's done is done, three weeks of detention on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, _and_Sunday," Professor McGonagall said and looked at her watch, acting as if she had to be somewhere in a hurry.

"You must be joking?" James hollered. "Can't you just use magic to fix it?"

"My magic will not help you learn how to learn discipline," Professor McGonagall barked angrily, pointing an angry finger at James. "You four need to learn the meaning of following rules. I am afraid detention will be the only thing that can help you."

"Rubbish!" Sirius chorused.

"I'll be lenient with you four but do not blow up any more walls. If you act this poorly again, you will find yourselves in detention for the rest of the year! Now go!"

"Yes, Professor," the four chorused and left her office immediately.

The walk out was in silence and tense. Remus was seething, Sirius was agitated at his punishment, James was agitated at Remus, and Peter was agitated at everyone; honestly, he did not understand why everyone just couldn't get along. When they walked far enough from Professor McGonagall's office, James turned to talk to Remus but he was gone.

"What the—"

"I swear he walked out with us!" Sirius said.

"Leave him be for a bit," Peter suggested sagely.

"Fine, whatever," James grumbled and walked off.

Remus, who was hiding around the corner, let out the breath he was holding in.

* * *

James, who was never the first to wake up, was this morning. The rest of his friends were asleep but as soon as he swung his legs over the side of his bed, Sirius roused and looked around.

"Wuzzhappenin'?" Sirius asked groggily as he watched James start walking towards the bathroom with a bucket in his hands.

"I think you can tell," James said with a wild smirk.

Sirius's weariness evaporated immediately, sensing a prank formulating. The two walked silently to the bathroom in the next room, holding the empty bucket, snickering to themselves about their cleverness.

Walking there was proven easy, but walking back was a definite challenge for the bucket was heavier and they were trying their best to keep most of the water in the bucket but occasionally one would trip and splash water onto the floor.

But finally they made it to Remus's bed and looked down at the sleeping first year. Remus had on a black buttoned shirt (apparently he did not change his shirt from last night) and slept with his knees up and his hand on his stomach that fell in rhythm of his breathing.

"One . . . two . . . three!"

James and Sirius counted together and dumped the water on Remus.

James burst out laughing as Remus shot straight up and looked around wildly and wiping the water from his face. When his gaze landed on the laughing James he launched himself at the unexpected boy and tackled him to the ground.

James thought of this as a new game and found it fun. They both wrestled on the ground hoping to pin the other to the ground. Remus felt his strength and fighting skills surge through his veins giving him new energy.

Remus ripped free of James and stood up. James grinned up at Remus before swinging out his leg and taking Remus's leg from underneath him. Remus fell with a thud and a groan as James pinned the young werewolf's arms to the floor with his knees.

"Get off me you prat!" Remus gasped.

"Oi," James exclaimed in a fake hurt tone. "You started it!"

"How did I start it when you were the one to throw water at me?" Remus muttered and shoved the Potter heir off.

Wincing as he moved his arms. All three heads turned to Peter who roused at the noise they were looked around and saw Remus on the floor, covered in water. And Frank Longbottom, the boy who did not speak much to them was still asleep.

"What just happened?" Peter said, raising an eyebrow. "Why are those two holding a bucket?"

He caught sight of Remus dripping with water and his question was answered. With a low whistle, he raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender and threw off his covers, giving up on trying to understand his friends' antics.

The four boys changed into their clothes and met outside the dormitory. They walked down to the common room and found it empty for many were still sleeping; finding it aberrant, Remus began to wonder.

"Why did you wake us up at 6:00? Breakfast doesn't start until 7:00," Remus said angrily, checking his watch.

James gave him an innocent smile.

"Because it's more fun to get up early and sneak around and do random stuff."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I agree, but your definition of random stuff will probably land us all in detention."

James patted his shoulder.

"You already know me too well, my dear friend."

The four boys, two being quite reluctant, crept out of the portrait, earning a sharp retort from the Fat Lady and checked the halls. When they were sure the corridor was empty, James stopped them and pulled out a long cloak that had a multicolored pattern and vaguely reminded Remus of a rug.

"What is that?" Peter whispered and as if he read Remus's mind, he added, "it looks like a very nice patterned rug."

"I'll show you," James said and laughed at Peter's comment.

He proceeded to drape the cloak over him and in one swift movement, James had disappeared. Remus felt his jaw drop open, Sirius inhaled sharply, and Peter gasped for they were all in awe.

James revealed himself and grinned at the sight of his friends' expressions.

"That's an invisibility cloak!" Remus exclaimed.

James nodded.

"My father gave it to me. It will help us sneak out. Let's go!"

James huddled closer to his friends and threw the cloak over his friends and all four disappeared. Sneaking around under the cloak was harder than it sounded to Remus who was shocked that they were not noticed even if they were invisible. The boys kept treading on each others feet which resulted in them swearing or tripping over shoe laces or their own feet.

But when the sneaked outside, James threw off the cloak of his friends and stuffed it back into his pocket. Remus was able to breathe again and drank in the fresh air and the breeze that blew around.

"What a tree," Sirius said and was looking behind them.

Three gazes followed Sirius's until the four were staring in the same direction, and there was a beech tree with the branches extended and made comfortable sitting places that hung right over the lake.

"I was sitting under it one morning. It's quite comfortable," Remus said, recalling the day he did.

James and Sirius grinned at each other like madmen.

"I, James Cicero Potter, hereby declare this beech tree to our," James announced in a formal way that Remus could not take seriously.

Remus, who rolled his eyes, grasped each side of the biggest and lowest branch and using all of his arm strength, pulled himself up and propped himself up in the tree, looking down at his friends.

"Oi," Sirius exclaimed took hold of the same branch Remus did. "Make room for me up there!"

Remus shifted over for Sirius him came up next and sat himself next to Remus. Next came James who sat on the other side of Remus and last came Peter who was grumbling the whole way up.

"Come on, Peter," James said with a grin. "Admit it, this is fun. It's better than sleeping in."

"I have to agree," Remus said, pointing in the distance. "You can see the lake from here at a great view."

"Remember when we got Snivelly and Evans to fall out of the boat?" James laughed. Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.

"How could I, it was only a while ago," Remus replied with a note of amusement mingled with exasperation. "I still thought it was a bad idea; and if you hadn't tipped the boat then it certainly would have been better yet!"

Sirius crossed his arms and wore an indignant expression.

"Oi, I fell out. It was James who tipped it."

"It was more fun that way anyway," James pouted.

Peter and Sirius laughed while Remus rolled his eyes.

Before long, it was already 7:00, the time all the rest of the students filed down to go eat breakfast in the Great Hall. The four boys were there first for as soon as they saw the first few people in the halls, they sprinted from the tree and into the corridor that led to the Great Hall. By the time the students were filling up the Great Hall, the latter was already sitting down and talking.

"How are you down here so fast?" a seventh year Gryffindor asked in surprise as she sat down looking flushed.

James and Sirius grinned at each other.

"We are early risers," James replied.

The seventh year raised an eyebrow but turned in he seat to converse with a girl who just sat down across from her.

"Our next prank needs to be today," Sirius declared as soon as he knew they would not be overheard.

"Do you have any ideas?" Peter inquired, looking around.

James looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head slowly.

"Then that means we go look in the library for spells we could use here," Sirius said happily. "One question, where is the library?"

James and Sirius looked expectantly at Remus who rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"Okay, fine," Remus sighed. "I'll help you."

James and Sirius's fist rose in victory and cheered and Peter and Remus exchanged amused glances. They finished their breakfast quickly as soon as the food appeared and raced back to the library with Remus leading them all.

The library was filled with rows upon rows of books. They ducked as a stack containing three or four books zoomed right over there heads and saw Madam Pince, the librarian sitting and organizing the books. Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius were all examining the shelves, trailing their fingers over the spines of the books, looking for the right one.

"Here's one," Remus said suddenly after flipping through a book and scanning the page.

"What is it?" Sirius and James asked eagerly, craning their necks to peer over Remus's shoulder.

"It's a really complicated spell. I've never heard of it before let alone use it. It allows you to walk and breath underwater but it also makes you feel like you are actually underwater."

James looked at Remus confused.

Remus turned the book so it was facing his friends.

"This spell allows you to breathe underwater but gives one the feeling of being submerged in water."

James looked at him excitedly.

"Then let's try it! Where though?"

Remus and James split with Sirius and Peter. Remus searched his memory for the little spell that conjured the results of the spell. They walked down the corridor that was most commonly used by everyone and took the advantage of the emptiness.

Remus pulled out his wand and opened his mouth to say the spell when James stopped him.

"You could've been heard, I don't plan on being caught either," James hissed.

"Okay, that may take a little more time," Remus interrupted.

He muttered the spell as loud as James would allow him to and watched in compete awe as the corridor filled up with cascaded down like a waterfall from the cracks and crevices of the corridor walls. The water would not pass the corners and would stop at the end of the corridor. Soon, they had created a wall of water, held up by magnificent magic.

James and Remus were standing at one end, watching with curiosity whilst Peter and Sirius were standing at the end of the corridor, watching it with awe. James raised an eyebrow at Remus, who merely rolled his eyes.

The werewolf was the first to step into the wall of water. He inhaled sharply as he walked through, he could feel it get ten degrees colder than normal as he stepped in. It felt as if he walked right through a waterfall but he was not soaked. James followed but when he walked, he started roaring with laughter, making Remus knit his eyebrows in amused confusion.

"This is amazing, Remus," James elaborated, his voice had sound waves as if he was actually speaking underwater yet people could understand him more clearly.

James pointed at Sirius and Peter who were strolling their way, each wearing the most amused and entertained expression.

"Let's get out and see who comes this way," Remus suggested.

The four boys eventually managed to walk out of the water hall and when they emerged from it, they were not soaking wet. The four waited around the corner and waited for someone to walk in. More students came and walked in finding this all very amusing.

"WHO DID THIS TO OUR HALL?" Professor McGonagall screamed.

The boys poked their heads around the corner and snickered as Professor McGonagall was engulfed in the giant wall of water. She started moving slowly through the water looking absolutely outraged. The boys burst out laughing. She turned around and saw them laughing at the scene.

Glaring, she walked back out and stood with her hands on her hips, scowling deeply at the boys. They all put on the innocent smiles.

"I am assuming it was you four who decided to do this?" she said still glaring at them.

Sirius grinned but Professor McGonagall was not having any of it.

"Well you can't automatically assume it was us just because we were laughing; anyone would've found this funny."

Professor McGonagall let out an impatient sigh.

"That doesn't work on me, Mr. Black. You four marauders are nothing but trouble. Come with me, all of you."

The boys followed Professor McGonagall to the headmaster's office. There was a single gargoyle of a bird whose wings nearly wrapped around the whole small circular room. The boys looked puzzled and stepped in between the wings.

Professor McGonagall held out her hands.

"Chocolate Frog."

The gargoyle started to spin and rise. Stairs started to appear from the bottom and climb their way up to the office where Dumbledore calmly waited for their arrival. If they were not in trouble, they would have found it more enjoyable. But the boys knocked on the door and entered when they heard a soft voice.

"I suspect you were caught?" Dumbledore asked from within.

The boys stepped inside and were greeted with awe. The Headmaster's office was a circular room with red painted walls with an exquisite design. And there sat Dumbledore at his desk, in the center of the circular room upon a levitated step. Behind him, were spiral stairs that led to whatever was above and to his left was the Sorting Hat and to the right was the most peculiar bird Remus has ever seen and was convinced it was Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix that he heard stories about from his parents.

"Yes sir," Remus said, clearing his throat and forcing his gaze at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore let out a hearty laugh.

"Be easy," Sirius pleaded. "Headmaster, do you know how hard of a spell that is for a first year?"

"Oh yes, it is a complex spell and I am quite shocked that a first year could manage to cast it without any flaws. But I do have to punish you, five days of detention."

The four boys looked around at teach other then Remus sighed.

"When does it start?"

Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"Monday through Friday."

Remus sighed again and nodded and the boys left without a complaint. However, Professor McGonagall stood there with her jaw dropping to the ground; she evidently was expecting a much worse punishment than they were given.

* * *

Hours past and when they got back to their dormitory after eating dinner they burst out laughing again.

"That was so fun!" James laughed.

"Did you see Snivelly, his face was priceless!" Sirius gasped through his laughter.

"Hear, hear!" Peter and James chorused and roared in agreement.

"That was hilarious," the messy haired boy concluded and looked at his three friends with a wild grin.

"Yeah, but it got us detention," Remus said, almost bitterly.

"She called us 'marauders'," James said thoughtfully.

"Then that's what we'll call ourselves; The Marauders." Sirius announced and standing up proudly. "I think that name will stick with us."

"I like it," James said and stood up like Sirius.

"It certainly suits us just fine," Remus said, his eyebrows were raised and he spoke with an air of laughter.

"Brilliant," Peter chimed in.

And for the first time, Remus felt like he had friends and for the first time, the young werewolf felt at ease. It was a strange, almost foreign, feeling to be accepted by peers but he was not letting it go anytime soon. Remus was determined to hang onto them.


	7. VII: More Suspicion

**All rights remain.**

The Marauders, or three of them, were sitting in the Great Hall, none too peacefully for James found Remus's seat at the Gryffindor table vacant once again. Getting a little a bit irritated, James had the feeling that Remus was not around the library or their dormitory studying.

"I will be right back," James decided and got up. Sirius and Peter watched with silent and confused expressions as James hurried out of the Great Hall.

Walking out of the room filled with people who noticed nothing, James ran to the hospital wing only to find it empty. He stood there, pondering what to do next for he really did not know where his friend would have gone. James dared to go into Madam Pomfrey's back office which only had recipes for potions that James lost interest in quickly.

Heading away from the hospital wing, he trekked all the way to the library. He passed several people, ignoring them all as they asked what he was doing. As he reached the library, he looked among the book shelves first then the tables.

But after several more minutes wasted looking for his friend, James left after searching the entire room for any sign of his friend. But as he turned to go, he noticed something peculiar; laying on the table, in plain view, was Remus's lunar chart for Astronomy. He stowed in his pocket to give it back but in the middle of sticking it in his Hogwarts robes, something caught his eye.

Remus had etched small markings, far more advanced than what the first years had been learning, and had written his own annotations next to what he circled or marked. Feeling very interested now, James seated himself down at one of the tables and pulled the light closer. Examining the chart, James tried to decipher the markings Remus made.

James spent an hour just staring at the lunar chart until he felt a sharp prod on his back. Jumping nearly a foot in the air, he turned to snap a swear word at his intruder but was surprised to see Sirius's worried face.

"You said you'd be right back!" the Black heir snapped hotly.

James shook his head and rubbed his weary eyes, yawning hugely. His head spun slightly from trying to decipher Remus's cryptic messages that were written like hieroglyphics. He stood up to cover the lunar chart from his friend's view.

"And since when did you go to the library?" Sirius asked, now in a demanding tone.

James shook off the question and gave him a look that explained to the Black heir that he was not interesting in telling him the story yet. And much to James's gratitude, Sirius nodded in understanding and followed James out the library.

"G'night," James said once the two reached the dormitory. Sirius frowned but didn't at anything, exchanging uneasy glances with Peter, the three changed into their sweatshirts and threw the covers over themselves and fell asleep without another word.  
_

Remus was thankful that is it was Sunday and his friends would be sleeping in. Madam Pomfrey had gotten him particularly early, healing his wounds the most she could then discharging him from the hospital wing with the vow that Remus would not over do himself.

He muttered the password to a tired Fat Lady and firstly looked around the common room. It was empty, as he expected, so he hurried to the dormitory. Sneaking in quietly, Remus pulled out his book and sat on his bed and started to read.

But something caught his eyes.

Remus narrowed his eyes and searched for the book recently used by James. Remus raised his eyebrows. He stared at the title in horror. It read THE SIGNS OF LYCANTHROPY. Remus felt his last drop of blood freeze as he was transfixed to the cover. Remus's worst thoughts came rushing back to his mind as he fought to keep himself calm.

_There is no way James could ever figure out,_ Remus thought.

He flipped the book open and scanned each page briefly. He read through what lycanthropy is, how one is to become a werewolf, and lastly the symptoms and signs of a werewolf as well as identifying them.

Remus read and reread them. Closing his eyes, Remus remembered the day he became one himself. He shook his head to clear the memory and slammed the book shut. He would have to find out if James was catching on. But acting as if nothing was wrong was difficult.

Remus walked outside to clear his mind and left, (the idea of isolating himself to protect his secret had come to his mind more than once).

By the time James, Sirius, and Peter woke up, Remus was gone again.

"Why is it that Remus always disappears?" James asked as he put on his jacket. He looked slightly defiant as Peter and Sirius both looked at him with questioning gazes; he scowled.

"Why are you so interested in where Remus goes?" Peter asked, arching his eyebrow.

James frowned. "I...I don't know either. It's the fact that Remus is being much too vague with his answers whenever we ask him."

Sirius cleared his throat. "I think we may be over thinking this, James. Remus isn't exactly acting suspicious or anything and we have done nothing but interrogate him since this month when he left."

"Then how is that not suspicious?" James protested, running his hand through his hair, making it messier than it was before.

"I think there's a reason why Remus is being vague," Sirius said fairly, trying to plunge on before James could interrupt him, "look, I know you hate it when words fail you because they never do. And I know that you hate the fact that Remus is being so secretive with us. And I know you hate the visible distance Remus puts himself between us. I know all of this but we can't go around assuming..."

Deciding that there was no point in arguing, James sagged slightly and muttered in reluctant agreement. The three were rather hungry, so they have chosen the time to grab something to eat. But when the three stumbled to the common room, they found it preoccupied by one person who was sitting with a book. And when the latter saw who it was, they marched right over.

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked as he, James, and Peter, approached him in the common room.

"Here and there," Remus replied nonchalantly with a shrug. His nose was still in his book and his eyes were gliding over the words of his pages, but unusually fast. His eyes were flitting anywhere but where his friends were.

James raised his eyebrow. "So where is that?"

"Just around," Remus replied with the same casual tone, trying hard to make his voice monotonous.

"I don't think that's a reasonable answer," Sirius mumbled, scowling at his friend's vague answers.

Remus shrugged again, this time forcing his calm gaze towards his friends. "What more of an answer do you want?"

In spite of his casual tone and his easy posture, in his mind, Remus started to get nervous.

"Enough, Sirius, I bet we are all hungry so let's get something to eat. Shall we?" Peter asked sharply, giving his interrogating friends a harsh look. Peter was the rarest person to stand up against his friends; Remus tried shooting Peter a grateful look.

So instead, the party of four walked to the Great Hall in hopes of releasing some of their tension with their shared love for food. Remus sat down giving Peter a silent thanks. Sirius looked over at James who was lazily munching on his toast.

Remus grabbed an apple and bit into it, savoring the apple's juice. He saw James get up and leave without a word. Remus looked up in confusion and kicked the urge to follow him out. But the longer Remus sat and thought the more impatient he became.

"Come on," Remus sighed to the other two, giving into his temptation to know where James had disappeared to. But when they didn't get up right away, Remus got up anyway, grabbing his bag and walking out of the Great Hall.

The young werewolf caught James turning in the library. Remus stayed far enough behind and cast his enhanced hearing to listen for James's footsteps. But Remus watched James fling himself into the library and quickly walked after him hiding among the book shelves, shielding himself from James's sight.

James picked up a certain book and stared at it for a couple of minutes and to Remus's surprise, he pulled out his quill and a spare piece of parchment and started to scribble down information from the book.

But the messy-haired boy seemed very jumpy for at every little sound, he jumped and whirled about. He'd lift his head in a flash, looking around, shifting his position, then diving back into his notes. He quickly scooped the book up and threw it back up to its rightful place on the shelf then came back for his notes. Remus did not get a chance to read them, much to his disappointment and made a mental note to himself.

James looked over his shoulder, looking left then looking right. With another swift motion, he hurried out of the library, weaving and ducking away from the clumps of students who were mingling quietly.

Remus emerged from his hiding place and saw what James had dropped—his lunar chart. _If only he could see what James had written he would know what his friend was up too._

Remus shoved his chart back in his book bag and left the library in a flurry. Feeling rather sick but no matter—he kept himself going. But in his head, he was having a war with himself. Ceasing the battle, he found James back in the Great Hall talking with Sirius and Peter. Giving up, Remus slumped against the wall and buried his face in his hands.


	8. VIII: Fight

A typical morning for The Marauders consisted off a new way to wake up the sleeping in the most ungraceful way, getting yelled at, and heading to the Great Hall for breakfast and that's just what the party of four was doing. The Marauders made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, waving heartily at Sir Nicholas who gave them a wobbly nod. Their only topic during their breakfast was Quidditch but when they ate their away their breakfast, they engaged in a new conversation.

"So, if we are going to pull any pranks on Snivellus would we—" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Which we will do—" James interjected

But before James or Sirius or Peter or Remus could say anything else, they were cut off by another bitter voice.

"Can you stop being so immature?" Lily snarled scathingly, eyeing James with the utmost look of pure dislike.

James smiled at Lily and rumpled his hair as if he thought this would win her over. "Ah, hello Evans—have you finally come to sense to ditch that greasy friend of yours?"

"Leave him alone!" Lily snapped with a furious expression. "Can't you come up with any better ideas to do in your pathetic lives, you bullying toerags."

James frowned. "But why blame me, Evans when it was not my idea?"

"Don't be stupid, Potter. Who else would go out of their way to—" Lily scoffed but was cut off.

"It was not my idea but Sirius's idea," James said at once, eyeing her hopefully. Lily, this time, was not the only one who looked enraged.

Sirius's eyes widen in shock.

"WHAT?" he screeched.

Lily rounded on Sirius.

"Oh! You lifeless prats! How I loathe arrogance you do so well to show. You have nothing better to do than to bully other people and make everyone around you miserable and you don't even _see_it," Lily fired up at once, her temper rising.

Sirius rounded on her in turn, flaring up on her. "Shut up, Evans. You weren't even in this conversation so sod off."

Lily looked affronted and opened her mouth to shoot back a stinging retort but stopped when she noticed Remus.

The young werewolf stepped forward and forced his voice to project over James and Sirius who were glaring at each other.

"Stop it. Honestly—"

"_Honestly what_?" Sirius snarled, shaking all over from fury. "What? Is it okay for James to call me out just so he can get on the good side of Evans when he barely knows her?"

"I don't care how well I know Potter or not—" Lily started but was silenced.

Remus nudged Lily away with a gentle hand. "I think it would be best if you left."

Lily opened her mouth furiously and stormed away, shooting a furious glance over her shoulder.

Sirius glared at James.

"Oi! Thanks for calling me out! I thought you valued friendship over Evans!"

James stood up to level with Sirius. "It's not like I was choosing favorites over you and Evans! Why are you—"

"STICK UP FOR YOUR FRIENDS!" Sirius howled with rage.

"But I wasn't technically lying!" James shouted back.

"I asked you _if_ we were going to against him, not _when_ we will!" Sirius snarled.

James glared at Sirius for another brief moment, snatched his bag, and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"Come on," Remus growled at Peter. "I'll get James, go get Sirius."

At that, the two split in different directions to go and retrieve their friends.

Remus found James was pacing furiously cursing to himself and running a hand through his messy hair. Remus quickened his pace to catch up to him.

"James," Remus called, trying to control his bag that was swinging wildly on his shoulder, threatening to fling off.

James looked up then looked back down.

"James," Remus said again but louder.

James refused to stop his pacing so Remus seized his shoulders and forced him to stop moving.

"James, listen to me!" Remus snapped looking fiercer than James ever saw him.

James reluctantly stopped pacing and glanced up at Remus.

"Do you expect me to go up to Sirius and beg for his forgiveness—you know—will getting down on one knee and worship him or something? Remus, don't start with me."

James was pacing again, stringing together a line of swear words.

"Is your loyalty to her or to us?" Remus dared to ask.

James narrowed his eyes.

"Yours of course! But I want Evans to like me too."

Remus sighed. "Let's go talk this out with Sirius. He is your best mate, James. Don't be a fool."

James cast his gaze away and Remus tugged at his sleeve.

"Please James," Remus implored.

He let out an agitated sigh when James refused once more to go and resolve things. He hoped Peter and Sirius were having better luck.

"Sirius, you need to be reasonable. James was only just saying that. He is your best mate. Are you going to ruin that over a girl?" Peter asked.

"He sold me out to Evans—well more like for Evans," Sirius snarled and looked at Peter with anger in his gray eyes.

"He didn't mean too. Come on, you have to listen to me," Peter said, trying hard not to slap his unreasonable friend.

"Is his loyalty with her or us?" Sirius hissed.

"With us, of course," Peter answered a little coolly.

"Then why did he tell Evans?" Sirius inquired.

Peter could not answer that because he could not find the right answer so he was forced to remain silent.

"Exactly," Sirius growled. "You can't answer that!"

Peter narrowed his eyes at his irrational friend.

Remus rolled his eyes at his uncooperative friend.

"James! For the last time, Sirius was mad because you pointed at Sirius. You told on him and without a good reason," Remus explained.

"But I'm not going down on my knees to ask him to stop being such an idiot. I care about him so why can't I still be friends with him and impress Evans all the same?"

"I understand, but telling on Sirius was not a good way to go," Remus said gently.

"I don't care anymore," James hissed and without another word he spun on his heels and marched to the Gryffindor Common Room and up to his dorm where he could sleep his problems away.

"His loyalty lays between us and her, Peter," Sirius said.

"No," Peter argued.

"Who cares? I'm done," Sirius said and stormed to his dorm nearly shouting the password. Peter caught up with Remus who was slowly making his way there.

"Any luck with Sirius?" Remus asked wearily.

"Nope, he's pretty mad right now," Peter said with the same tired voice.

"James is too," Remus sighed.

They continued to tell each other how their conversations went until they were lying in bed. Remus kicked off his shoes and crashed on his bed for a nap to escape his troubles.

The fight has been going on for three days and getting worse before getting better.

Remus blinked and waited for his eyes to adjust to the bright light. Halloween was arriving soon! He stared out the window and looked at the swirling leaves that covered the ground. He took his shower and changed his clothes but was now struggling with his tie.

By the time he got back, the rest of his friends were up and ready. Remus felt his spirits rise at the thought of his friends had forgotten the fight but when he saw Sirius and James not talking to each other his spirits sunk back down. He tried to adjust his tie but growled in frustration when he was unsuccessful.

"Damn tie," Remus swore.

"Calm down," James said fighting not to laugh.

He grabbed Remus's tie and slung it around his neck and attempted to tie it around but could not. James wrapped his tie around his neck and managed to tie it perfectly. James straightened it and stood proudly. Remus walked down to the Great Hall with his tie in one hand and wand in the other.

"Which class do we have first?" Remus asked completely dazed.

"We have Potions first," Sirius said who was sitting next to Remus and was sitting diagonal to James both refusing to talk to each other.

They walked up to Potions class sand surprisingly had to read out of a book instead of brewing.

-I am surprised Professor Hayes isn't making us brew another stupid potion. -P

-The potions he makes us make never turns out right. -S

-I know right! I am too, Peter. -J

-Would you rather be brewing or reading? -R

-REMUS! You joined the conversation. -S

-Yeah, why are you always surprised by that? -R

-You're the least likeliest of us to join in, Remus. -J

-I am not sure if that is a compliment or not. -R

-Take it as one. -P

-Okay, then I will. But it is also pretty hard to ignore a glowing parchment. -R

-What are we going to do in Transfiguration? Or Defense against the Dark Arts, Peter or Remus? -J

-I think Professor McGonagall is going to assign that essay about turning your targets into birds. Professor Hilret is getting into the subject of hexes and jinxes. -P

-What do you think, Remus? -S

-Stop direct messaging me and Peter. You two need to resolve things. -R

-No need to get testy, Remus. -J

-Oi, sorry Remus. -S

-SIRIUS. -P

When class was dismissed, James and Sirius took no time in leaving the classroom. They both looked agitated and refused to talk. Remus sighed and followed Peter out of the room.

He rushed to Transfiguration and fell off his seat. Snape turned and laughed as Remus clambered back into his chair shaking with embarrassment.

"Shut up," Remus muttered.

Snape smirked and Remus sprang to his feet and wand out. He was already in a bad mood.

"_Petrificus Totalus_," Remus said pointing his wand at Snape.

The Slytherin's limbs immediately snapped to his side and he fell over in a heap of robes.

A few students gasped and looked at Remus in shock. Remus stowed his wand away and sat back down as if nothing happened.

"Good job," James said and gave Remus a high five.

Professor McGonagall walked in and nearly fell over in surprise as she saw Snape lying there.

"Wha-what happened?" she cried.

The Slytherin students looked over at Remus who grinned sheepishly.

"Professor," Remus said in his innocent voice, "he was edging me on. It was like he was asking for it."

Professor McGonagall let out an impatient sigh.

"That's no reason to go around petrifying students."

Remus felt anger rise up in him. "I'm already annoyed; he was making it worse."

"I'm sure whatever it is that's annoying you isn't Snape's fault."

Remus glared at Sirius and James and stormed out of the classroom staring intently out of the window determined not to lose it. He hated the fact that his friends were in a fight and to make it worse, it started to become noticeable to other students too.

It had been going on for days and progressively getting worse with each passing day. This was the final day Remus would stand back and watch his friends glare at each other. Being sucked out of his thoughts, Remus noticed Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared at his side.

"You didn't have to stop class just for me," Remus said shortly.

"I didn't, I noticed your two friends weren't talking to each other and I was wondering if you were referring to them," she said.

"I was, all right? I am so sick of it," Remus growled.

"You can be more open with me, I know it's been bothering you and I was hoping you would come and talk to me about it," Professor McGongall said.

"I stay true to my friends, Professor," Remus replied.

"What do you mean?" Professor McGonagall questioned.

"It means that whatever happens in my friend group stays there," Remus answered.

Professor McGonagall looked half impressed.

"Why didn't you come out here to yell at me?" Remus asked wearily not wanting to talk to anyone.

"Because I know you're going through a lot," she said.

Remus stiffened. "I don't need sympathy."

Professor McGonagall sighed.

"Sorry," Remus muttered. "I will fix my own problems."

Remus waited for Sirius, James, and Peter all exit the room, which they did at different times. James came first then Peter then Sirius.

Remus marched to Defense against the Dark Arts; he did not even bother to try to talk to any of them and went through the whole day barely speaking to any of his friends.

When they were at the Gryffindor table eating, Remus had a book to hide his face to avoid talking to anyone. When he entered the dormitory, he pointedly turned his back on Sirius and James and briefly spoke to Peter.

"How are you?" Remus asked briskly.

"Fine," Peter replied with the same tone sharing the same annoyed glance at Sirius and James with Remus.

Remus knew Peter was just as annoyed with Sirius and James as he was. Remus set his shoes beside his bed and fell asleep ignoring his friends.

The next day Remus was up and already up before his friends sitting in the beech tree not bothering to go to breakfast early. Remus sat in the tree and hid among the leaves trying to go unnoticed. Peter came down shortly after 6:00 and sat rested against the trunk of the tree. He looked up at Remus.

"They're still not talking to each other," Peter said.

"I guessed," Remus sighed.

"When do you think they're going to stop being idiots?" Peter asked.

Remus shrugged. "I don't know. They're both too bloody proud."

The day went through fairly quickly yet no better than the other four days. Severus was cured and avoiding Remus every time he came into view. After dinner, it was going to be their first free period in a while.

Remus seized the opportunity to head over to the library. Lily sat at the bookshelf tables and had her head in her potions book open to the chapter they read in class today.

Remus narrowed his eyes when he saw books very slowly move over then stop. The door to the restricted section slowly and quietly swung open and closed itself again. He did not believe this was a coincidence.

Pushing the door to the restricted section, he slid around to the other side shutting quietly without being noticed. Remus slowly looked around for any more signs of movement that he could detect; just when he guessed it was his imagination he heard a crash and books fell and scattered the floor. Remus raced to the aisle but did not see anyone. He sharpened his sense and listened for a noise.

"_Accio_ Invisibility Cloak!" Remus said, aiming his wand in front of him.

Nothing happened, Remus knew that he was far from perfect from that spell but he tried it anyway. Although it had no impact, Remus watched as something stirred in the corner and he raced towards it, running directly into it.

James's cloak fell off, revealing the book in his arms; he took one look at Remus, ran down one of aisles, and threw the book upward, the book floated upward and slid itself between two other books. James ran back to the other aisle, snatched his cloak back, and wrapped it around himself.

Remus gasped for air as he reached the aisle he saw James run to. He looked around and growled in frustration. Little did he know, James ran out of the library and back up to the dormitory Remus stormed back to the common room determined to talk to James.

"James!" Remus hollered a bit alarmingly.

James disappeared around the corner and Remus tore after him.

"James, we need to talk," Remus said, getting annoyed and not wanting to play the game of chase with his friend.

James turned around and glared at Remus.

"What do you want?"

"What are you keeping from me?" Remus asked in frustration.

James's eyes widened in disbelief as he laughed scornfully.

"What are _you_ keeping from _me_?"

Remus retaliated as if he had been whipped.

"Who said I am hiding something from you?"

James raised his eyebrow.

"If you won't tell me, I will find out myself."

Remus shook his head lost for words. James raised his eyebrows at him and left without another word, stomping out and not looking back. Remus was about to give James another sharp retort but still, words had failed him.


	9. IX: October

Remus sat crossly at the Gryffindor table for the fifth day of the fight; opening his book, his eyes did not move down the page but a frown had appeared on his face.

Sirius and James were still not talking and Peter was awkwardly sitting reading the Potions chapter that was assigned and taking notes though his eyes, like Remus's, were barely moving down the page and his quill sat in his still hand.

The Marauders ate in silence as two decided not to utter a single word during those long periods of silence. Remus and Peter were both getting tired of their friends' behavior and was eager to leave for their first class. They walked in silence, Remus and Peter walking in between them, and all the way to the classroom, tension crackled in the air.

When they were heading to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Remus sat next to James who greeted him swiftly and for once, sat and took notes. Sirius and Peter were very brisk with one another as they sat in silence and took notes as well.

But as soon as Remus was rereading what he had written so far, his book bag started glowing brighter; and with no one else seeing this, Remus was able to take out the parchment as watch as letters appeared on the parchment in the familiar handwriting of Peter's. James noticed the glow from his parchment on his table and bent over, from his notes, to read it.

Remus was bent over his own parchment, trying to read out what Peter was writing and looking over his book and notes. Finally he gave up and averted his full attention to Peter's note.

-Do you understand this? -P

-Sort of. I still think it's a waste of time. -S

-It's important, is it not? -R

-No. -J

-Come to join the conversation I see. -P

-Are we going to be like this for the rest of Hogwarts? -R

-Or will you both stop being bloody idiots and apologize? -P

-He can. -J

-_What_? What did I ever do you _you_? You're the one who pointed me out! I didn't do anything to you! -S

-I'm not going to ask him to grow up. -J

-You two can be such idiots, it's unbelievable! I cannot fathom the way you two are thinking—search me! Pray tell, because I have no idea! -R

-I'm suppose to grow up. I don't know either. -S

Remus scoffed angrily, giving up, and shot an icy glare at Sirius and James who seemed determined not to look phased by their recent conversation. Peter rolled his eyes at Remus and started writing notes again.

He began to furiously continued to write notes and cursed loud enough for Professor Hilret to hear when his quill tip broke. Professor Hilret, who chose to stand within range of hearing, strode over to Remus with a nasty look. Remus waited for him to say something first but realized he would have to.

"Yes, Professor?" Remus asked in a strained polite voice.

"Dear, Lupin. You have so much to learn," Professor Hilret murmured softly, "you will act with decency towards me for I am a Professor, now."

Remus kept himself from saying anything but instead ripped his bag from under Professor Hilret's foot and stalked out of the room, acting as if he was dismissed but he could feel the immense satisfaction coming Hilret.

He seethed with unwanted anger as he walked to his dormitory and sat down on his bed looking at the darkening sky. He was breathing heavily and was forced in his own thoughts until sleep came to overpower him.

Feeling already ill from the full moon, Remus skipped the rest of the day (which doesn't happen often) and merely sat in his bed practicing spells and reading books until James, Sirius, and Peter all walked exhausted into the dormitory and to their own bed.

Remus rolled his eyes at his impossible friends and watched as each boy pulled his curtain around his bed. He was still fuming until sleep found him again, taking him down in a restless slumber.

Remus woke up the next morning, ignoring his friends who did not seem to mind in the slightest, sat down with a book to his face, not bothering to say anything until he saw Peter sit down gloomily next to him, shaking his head.

And as he saw Sirius and James walk in without looking at each other, something in Remus snapped, making him lose the little patience he had left; the young werewolf leaped to his feet, not caring who was watching now.

"Oi!" Remus snapped, catching the attention of his friends by surprise.

Sirius and James looked up at Remus in shock, looking genuinely confused as their friend was glaring down at them.

"You have really made this week a load harder than it should have been with your petty fight!" Remus hissed, his anger made him unable to think clearly.

James and Sirius ducked their heads in shame, not wanting to look like their friend and was acting like two young children being scolded for doing something bad. Remus was pointing at James and Sirius who would not meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry," James said and looked at Sirius, "honestly, I am. I don't know what I was thinking and after a few minutes, I really wanted to talk to you but you just looked so mad that I didn't want to."

"Yeah? I thought that too. I wanted to apologize the minute it happened but I thought you wanted to cool down first and then we just stopped talking," Sirius replied.  
"And I'm really sorry to you and Peter both as well. We probably made it hell for you two this past week."

Remus could feel the world lifted off his shoulders as he sat back down, his hand relaxing its tight grip of his book, and shook his head in silent disbelief.

"I don't know what was going on in your thick heads," Remus breathed though breathed relief.

"We can be friends again and pretend that never happened," Peter said.

James and Sirius hugged and made up making Remus's day better. Friday and the last day of the week lifted his spirits but they sunk as he remembered the full moon. He would have to come up with yet another lie to his friends about why he just disappeared, but for now, he would have to go to classes as if nothing was wrong.

Rather feeling a bit ill, Remus staggered to his feet.

"Why do you look so ill?" Sirius asked as they made their way to Herbology.

"Just sick," Remus said gruffly, trying to rid the spinning inside his head.

"I'll meet you guys in Herbology," James said after a short pause. "I'm taking him to the hospital wing."

Remus did not object but he reluctantly followed James down the corridor to the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey (who was in her usual brisk mood) was running about as if preparing for something.

When she saw the two boys, one looking pale and tired, stopped and pointed at one of the beds.

"Yes, just set him down there," Madam Pomfrey said. "That's right."

"I'll see you later, Remus?" James asked, exiting the hospital wing, making Remus feel even worse as he was forced to watch his friend walk away.

"Yes," Remus said quietly and the doors shut.

Madam Pomfrey sat by his bed. "Is it the full moon?"

"Yeah," Remus sighed.

"Then you're staying put," she ordered strictly. "You will not be attending your classes today."

Remus did not say much. However, he was forced to sit there until night started to fall. It was dreary, having nothing to do but sit and realize that his friends were free to do whatever they desired while he was stuck in the hospital wing. However, there was sharp voice that threw him out of his thoughts. Madam Pomfrey came in to escort him to the Whomping Willow.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Remus said wearily, he dragged his aching self to his feet and proceeded to follow Madam Pomfrey out the door. The night was crisper for it was October so the wind bit and stung his face.

"_Immobulus_."

The branches of the Whomping Willow stopped swaying but Remus did not stop shaking.

"Are you sure you're all right, Lupin?"

"Yeah," Remus said nodding, "I'm fine."

Madam Pomfrey waved goodbye as Remus made his way down the winding passageway. He made a mental vow that he would never come back to the Shrieking Shack when he graduated. He stubbed his toe on a bit of loose rock, making him curse darkly at the pain that shot up his foot. Nursing and hobbling, Remus finally made it to a winding end.

He heaved himself up the hole and dragged himself on to the wooden and dusty floor. He flexed his arm before proceeding to the upstairs. It was a terrible feeling, being back in here and it was only his second time.

The room groaned and creaked. The bed looked comfortable but Remus did not want to fall asleep in fear of having a terrible nightmare before he started transforming. No, instead he sat beside the window, waiting for the moon, but letting his mind wander to his thoughts he held so closely in his head. The thoughts and images of his friends and family burned in his head, making it vivid.

He always made sure his mind was on his family right before the full moon and now he made sure his mind was on his family and friends. Transforming on happier thoughts offered Remus some sort of comfort in which he cherished deeply.

With a sharp pain that started in his leg, Remus knew the full moon had made itself visible. He had no recollection of how long he sat there and pondered his life but he did not even notice the moon was up until it started changing him, physically.

His body lengthened and hair sprouted from his body. His bones transformed along with the rest of his body, molding itself into something suitable for a beast. Remus watched his hands turn into something else's that was not his. His vision was becoming more blurred and he screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see what he was becoming for it was torture.

His back crawled with pain as he turned his already transforming head to lick the wound. Although it did not make sense that he would do something, he was beginning to care less and less about what looked normal for humans and what looked normal for a canine. Remus was losing his mind and the internal battle he was struggling with, was ceasing to an end.

The werewolf threw back its head and howled its voice to the sky, pledging to its mistress, the moon. The gray werewolf looked thinned and ragged, looking like it has lost weight in a short amount of time. It was bellowing in anger as it looked around its cage for it desperately wanted to escape.

It leaped at the wall, roaring with pain as it slammed its shoulder into the wood. Then it raced across the room, grazing its leg against a broken leg of a chair, and sent blood spurting from its new wound.

The werewolf's eyes dilated as the scent of blood reached its sensitive nose. It twisted around and lapped up the blood on its leg, licking it as if it were trying to stem the flow. But the werewolf desired more. Sinking its teeth into its own arm, the werewolf could taste the fresh flow of blood seep on to its tongue as it flickered to and fro from the wound.

The werewolf enclosed its jaws around its arm again, getting more of that delicious tasting blood. But it desired meat, food, for it was starved and deprived of flesh from its prey. It leaped to its feet and sunk its jaws in its leg, savoring as its teeth sunk into flesh, but bellowing as it was its own.

Stuck in a cycle of desire and reluctance, the werewolf continued to struggle with itself until it became nothing but a withered werewolf, laying on the floor, bleeding from every wound it gave itself.

Back in the dormitory, James and Sirius were exchanging a few words whilst Peter fell asleep.

"I wonder what Remus is doing," James muttered, yawning. "Considering he is not here."


	10. X: Christmas Prank

As October had ended and November blew past like the leaves in autumn, now the ground was layered with a beautiful blanket of white snow. Remus had found his time at Hogwarts going past incredibly fast as classes have gotten more interesting and the new first years were settling in at Hogwarts, making the old and grand castle really feel like home and their fellow students feel like family. But nonetheless, The Marauders had to make sure Hogwarts would not get too quiet, pulling pranks made sure that the students would not be too bored at school.

"I can't wait for Christmas!" Sirius said as he eased back on the couch, lounging with his feet up with a casual elegance. Remus set aside his book at the sound of Christmas and decided that it was worth talking about.

"Are you guys staying here?" James asked, sitting on the floor and leaning against the couch's arm rest.

"Have to," Sirius grumbled but let out a bark-like laugh, "my parents don't exactly want me home, especially after the fact that I'm a Gryffindor—not a Slytherin."

"Why?" Remus asked, looking up from his folded hands.

"I'm a Gryffindor when my whole family's been in Slytherin," Sirius answered bitterly and laughed darkly, "the lot of them—they're just bad news. Andromeda, my cousin, and very few in my family actually agree with me."

"Forget about them for the time being," James said soothingly, "but I'm staying for Christmas. My parents are going to France to visit old family friends and gave me the option of staying here or going with them."

"That's cool," Peter said but added after a brief pause, "France would be cool too—I would like to go to France one day or perhaps to the United States. I think that would be rather interesting."

"What about you, Peter?" Sirius asked. "Are you staying for Christmas?"

"I'm staying," Peter said, "my parents said I could."

"Great," James said and turned to Remus who was studying his hands folded in his lap. "Are you staying over the holidays?"

"Of course I am," Remus said and grinned, "who will keep you in line?"

"That's good," James said brightening up, "we'll pull a prank this vacation."

And The Marauders began to plot their prank—of course—in secret for no one could know their mastermind plans they create. They pulled out a piece of parchment and started jotting down what they were coming up with, either agreeing or disagreeing or adding onto it. And about a half an hour later, the four sat back (for they were huddled around one parchment).

"Can we review?" Peter asked.

"Sure," James said, "so here's what we're going to do—"

The Marauders sat calmly at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall at the last dinner they would be having before students packed up and left for vacation. It was a rather quiet evening except the clutter of conversations as people were discussing their Christmas plans.

"Do we have everything?" Sirius whispered and James nodded for a silent answer.

"Ready Remus?"

Remus sighed. "I can't believe your making me do this!"

"You'll have fun," Sirius said and grinned madly.

Remus rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. Standing up on the table, he beckoned for everyone's attention; all heads in the Great Hall turned to Remus and immediately fell silent for they knew that The Marauders had planned another prank. Remus waved and began his random and improvised announcement.

"You can all hear me, right? I suppose so—this room tends to echo a lot. So you can all hear me? That's good. Well, I'm awfully glad it's nearly break! I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted from all the work the professors are giving us!"

Shouts of agreement chorused through the Great Hall like a mighty wave as the students were nodding and shouting their opinions.

"Anyways," Remus said hoping that the next part would hurry along, "I say we shouldn't have so much work! We have so many different subjects and to be quite frank the professors seem to forget we have other classes and pile us with never ending work! Now I'm not pointing out anyone in particular—"

Peter stood up and joined him.

"But some professors give out way to much work! As if we don't have enough on our minds already! Our stress levels can only go up so high before breaking—"

"Precisely! Just some nice feedback from your fellow students, professors, there really is no need to look so livid," Remus said.

But before either one could say anything else, they were saved when a small firework buzzed in the Great Hall, dancing lightly around the room, at the Head Table and exploded into tiny fireworks that sprayed out water. Some of the students near it burst out laughing as they were showered in water.

Professor Hilret, Filch, and Professor McGonagall stood up, looking around for the source of it but was interrupted as another firework came sizzling into the Great Hall and exploded. Silence stretched but was immediately broken after dozens of fireworks came streaming in, one after another, exploding into many things, bubbles, snow, candy. The students were now jumping up and down trying to avoid the fireworks or grabbing the candy that exploded to all corners of the Great Hall.

Three major ones quickly follows and burst into a red and blue flaming dragon (one you find in Chinese New Year) and roared its approval as it prowled the Great Hall. Stopping directly in front of the professors Head Table, it abruptly burst into a million fireworks.

James and Sirius seized the opportunity to sneak up to the professors' table, replace their chocolate pudding and other deserts with replacement desserts; and when you took a bite, you burst out into random noises.

James and Sirius snickered at their cleverness and crawled their way back to their tables, trying to go undetected. They sat down and waited for the smoke to clear, watching the professors carefully.

"MARAUDERS!"

The four ducked but Professor McGonagall came storming up to them anyway.

"Explain yourselves."

"You can't automatically assume it was us," James said innocently, brushing off some of the candy that exploded right over their heads.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Remus said, which shocked the four. Remus never said anything like that.

"Oh, so I suppose that whole great speech didn't have anything to do with this prank?"

"Nope," Remus said simply and looked at her.

"I highly doubt that," Professor McGonagall snorted and walked off in a brisk manner, heading straight to Dumbledore, who was eyeing the candy that had fallen on his table.

"Wow, Remus," James said impressed. "Since when are you a good liar?"

"Always been," Remus said shortly remembering how he lies to his friends every month.

"Now wait for it to begin," Sirius snickered and the four watched intently as the professors got everyone seated and calm before proceeding to eat their own desserts.

The Great Hall roared with laughter as Hagrid had coughed out duck noises and couldn't stop but he was not the only one who found it amusing as Headmaster Dumbledore looked down the table and smiled.

"H-Hagrid! Rubeus!" Professor McGonagall hissed, looking appalled for clearly she did not think this was amusing in the slightest.

However, she was interrupted by a loud gawking noise. She looked horrified as she burst out into caws from a bird. Everyone in the Great Hall except for Professor Hilret and Professor McGonagall found this entertaining.

Professor Dumbledore broke out into dolphins noises and Sirius seemed to have saved the worst for Professor Hilret for a moment he was looking outraged at this out rust but then, he himself, started choking out bleats of a cow.

If possible, an even angrier, Professor Hilret threw his plate off the table and chucked it into the mass of people.

Remus pulled out his wand and aimed his spell at the flying plate that not many students noticed.

"_Wingardium leviosa_."

The plate stopped in midair and students, for once, stopped billowing about to stare at the plate with sudden interest.

"Who's doing that?"

Some of the students turned to Remus who was not paying attention to the students but at the floating plate. The rest of the students turned to Remus. Remus slowly lowered the plate onto the Hufflepuff table and tried to avoid the angry glare from Professor Hilret who looked determined to harm Remus just by glaring at him.

"Well done!" Sirius, James, and Peter chorused.

Remus bows his head (for he was not all that great with attention). He caught a glance at Lily who was looking annoyed and displeased at the same time. Her friend, Alice, was sitting next to her looking slightly less annoyed but annoyed none the less.

"The professors are going to kill us!" Remus groaned, and dared to look at them.

"Not if they don't catch us!" Sirius said in a singsong voice and pulled Remus with him to escape the fray of things.

Once up to the common room (The Fat Lady snapped at them) they settled down on the couch and chairs next to the fire.

"I think that was one of our best pranks yet!" Sirius exclaimed happily, beaming from ear to ear.

"I agree," James said. "Too bad we couldn't stay and watch the whole thing."

"One of the great prices of being a prankster," Remus sighed in mock tone of sincerity, "one can never stay to watch their master plan unfold."

Sirius and James scowled at Remus's tone but looked amused all the same.

"All right," Remus said. "I'm tired."

"Me too," Peter added.

Remus and Peter went to the dormitory leaving Sirius and James behind. Seizing the opportunity of Remus's absence, James launched into his story and proclaimed his theory.

Sirius listened and seemed to be absorbing all the facts.

"Don't you think Remus is hiding something?" James asked.

"I know Peter mentioned something," Sirius said sincerely. "He was suspicious of Remus too."

"He was?"

"Yeah," Sirius said slowly. "But I dunno now-I mean when Peter told me he kind of shook his head at himself in disbelief."

"Peter could be right, you know?"

Sirius looked a bit doubtful still, "what could Remus be hiding that was so bad that he'd have to keep it such a deep secret from everyone?"

James and Sirius made their way to bed and when the lights were out and curtains drawn, James pondered the most recent conversation. Little did he know, Peter, Remus, and Sirius were all brooding on the same topic.

Peter was thinking about the lunar chart and how he noticed Remus's disappearances all seemed to connect to one another.

Sirius was thinking how Remus looked the same way around the same time, pale and exhausted. Remus never seemed irritable but he didn't seem like his usual self whenever he was in his unusual state.

Remus was now thinking about how he managed to keep the suspicion low on November's full moon. The idea of isolation from his friends came to his mind more than once; the idea seemed promising and tempting but he knew that would just raise the suspicion even more than it is already.

All four last track of time and soon enough they all fell asleep on their thoughts.


	11. XI: Christmas

"Oi! Remus!"

Remus roused out of his sleep and jumped back when he saw Frank looming over him, his curtains drawn back, revealing the worried first year.

"Frank!" Remus said startled and tried shaking off the weariness that was gnawing at him, "what is it?" Remus was now rubbing his eyes, trying to clear his blurry vision.

Frank gave him a puzzled look, "why are you wearing your uniform? Did you not have enough time to change or anything? No! Anyway, James is gone—"

"—What?" Remus said, springing to his feet. His whole body seemed course energy through him as Frank's statement jolted him awake.

"Yeah," Frank said, "and by the looks of their empty beds so is Peter and Sirius. I woke up and heard them say something about the library and books about—Merlin knows what—and—"

Remus didn't hear the rest for he thanked Frank, tore off his tie, slipped on his shoes, and hared out of the dormitory down to the library, having to take several detours to avoid Filch and his prowling cat. Several times, he nearly bowled into him from the back but realized skidded to a shaky halt and sprinting the opposite way. Panting, he arrived at the library, slipped through the door that was open (just barely) and slipped through the shelves of books, listening for his friends.

Spotting and hearing them, Remus slithered up and looked through the gap the books made. Thankful for the darkness, Remus slipped in the shadows and eavesdropped on his friends' conversation.

"I think it's here somewhere," James's voice said, "I don't remember."

"We're looking for one book in a library filled with books! It's 5:00 in the morning, James," Peter grumbled and shut another book, "finding one book in a library is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Come off it, Peter," James said with an impatient wave of his hand, "I've seen it before—"

"Since when do you come down the library?" Sirius questioned, eyeing his friend warily. James opened his mouth to say something but deciding that it was a good time to interrupt, Remus stepped out from the shadows and cleared his throat.

"Since when do _you three _come down to the library?" Remus asked evenly.

The three whipped around and if Remus was not so concerned about discovering his condition, he would have found their expressions hilarious.

"R-Remus! What are you doing here?" Sirius stuttered, looking utterly confused and embarrassed.

"I could ask you the same," Remus said coolly, "what _are_ you doing? Usually one does not sneak down to the library at five in the morning."

His questioned was answered with silence.

"So what are you hiding?" Remus asked curiously, trying to keep the coldness from his voice.

James was the first to recover from his shock and his eyes widened.

"What a are _we_ hiding from _you_? What are _you _hiding from _us_?"

Remus flinched as if he had been brandished by a whip. Calming his screaming nerves, he forced himself to sound as casual as he could.

"Who said I was hiding anything?" he asked roughly but shifted his feet.

"If you won't tell us—well—well then I'll figure it out by myself, but you should know that there shouldn't be any secrets among our friends," James said rather pointedly and turned his back to shove the book back in its place.

Remus looked at his shoes and James instantly felt bad for being so sharp, he lowered and softened his tone when he spoke again.

"Meet me at breakfast, okay?"

Remus nodded and Sirius and James left leaving Peter and Remus to follow behind at a slower pace though Remus could tell Peter was walking slowly on purpose (much to Remus's dismay).

"It's the secret that'll end up destroying our friendship—there's the living proof." Remus whispered to himself not knowing Peter overheard.

Remus walked around the empty corridor until it was time for breakfast. By now, the tables were nearly empty besides two Ravenclaw fifth year girls and two Slytherin fourth year girls.

"Remus," James said, frowning as he scrutinized his friend, "you look dead on your feet, how come?"

"Just tired," Remus said with a shrug and sat down.

James gave him a skeptical glance. "You should get some sleep."

"Np," Remus said shrugging the suggestion off, "I don't need it. I'm just tired but not enough to have to sleep or anything."

"It looks like one good hex'll finish you off," Sirius chimed in, while eating toast.

"Do you want to get rid of me?" Remus asked with an air of laughter.

"Of course not," Sirius said and smiled, noticing Remus's amused tone, "but James and I found a secret passageway that leads straight out of here and to Hogsmeade. We want to show it to you—it'll come in handy, trust me."

"Oh?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrow at his two friends that were grinning madly.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "we're going to buy Christmas gifts today."

"All right, count me in," Remus said and picked up an apple.

"Great!" James said excitedly.

"But what if we get caught?" Remus inquired, suddenly looking up.

"We won't, not with the invisibility cloak," James said with a mischievous grin.

The four boys ran to the dormitory, ignoring the curious glances they were getting as they ran the length of the halls, skidding around corners and ignoring those who tried to talk to them.

Peter, Remus, and Sirius stayed in the common room while James sprinted to the first year boys' dormitory to grab the Invisibility Cloak. He grabbed the cloak and ran back down, panting slightly before proceeding out of the common room with the cloak draped under his arm.

James went first, leading them down a corridor with a statue of a dragon. It was rather large and green, winding its snake-like body around the base of the statue; it had seven or eight hands and Remus watched in confusion as James walked up to it and studied the positions of the was talking quietly to himself and experimentally turning the hands on the dragon until he straightened up.

He turned the first hand left, the second hand straight up, the third hand left, the fourth hand down, the fifth hand left, the sixth hand left, the seventh hand straight up, and the last hand right and with a roar from within the dragon, the eyes glowed red and opened a small door in the wall.

"There we go!" James said happily, evidently proud with himself. They walked down, one by one, following the long path that wound around with abrupt turns around the corners. Finally after several minutes of climbing stairs, the four ended up outside in the blowing wind.

They'll notice our footprints," Remus pointed out mildly as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Then on the way back, we'll cover them," James said and had his hands in his pockets. "And it's not like they'll know it's _our _specific footprints."

The four boys flared up their collars against the wind and hurried to Hogsmeade and away from the cold. They turned to The Three Broomsticks and welcomed the warm draft that was there to welcome them. Pulling their hands from their pockets and shaking out their hair from the snow, they looked around to see students from third years and up huddled around tables, talking, snogging, and cuddling. The four boys walked over to Madam Rosmerta and waved at her

She came over and smiled as she seemed to recognize the first years. "First years, eh? I didn't know they were allowing first years to Hogsmeade."

"They aren't," Remus said with a smile, "so we hope you won't say anything—but kick the habit, could we get something to drink?"

"Certainly," she said, "let me guess, four butterbeers?"

"Precisely!" Sirius said and grinned as she left to prepare their drinks. The party of four chose to sit at a table that was near the door and removed their hands from their pockets and unzipped their jackets. They paid Madam Rosmerta as she handed them their drinks and left the warm pub. Not bothering to zip their jackets back up, the four drank their butterbeer that warmed their hands better than pockets did.

"Where to?" Remus asked, looking at James.

"Zonko's?" James asked, pointing at the shop's sign that said 'Zonko's'. It was clearly a popular store for it looked filled with people but to their surprise, they imagined more would be in here. As the entered, they noticed that everything at Zonko's was joke related and at once, Remus knew that Sirius and James had found their small haven.

"A joke shop!" James exclaimed.

"Ruddy brilliant!" Sirius added.

By the time they left, the four boys came out each with their new gifts they received from each other. When they separated to do their own shopping, Remus had found three things for his friends. And after meeting up with the rest and walking back outside, they sat on a snow covered bench under a bare tree and exchanged their gifts.

"James—this is a book you will find useful," Remus said and handed the messy haired boy a book with the title _Spells that are Prime for Pranks. _James thanked Remus as the young werewolf turned to Sirius._  
_

"And I thought this book would be for you," Remus said and handed Sirius a large volume called _All the Right Ways to Care for your Broom. _Sirius beamed and thanked Remus and the first year turned to Peter.

"And this is for you," Remus said, handing Peter a book called _The Wonders of a the Comet Brooms. _"Since you are rather bitter about your broom, I found some interesting facts in here that will make you like your broom more. Airbenders are not the only cool brooms out there. Read and you'll see."

James gave Sirius and Peter several different joke items from Zonko's all in a bag that was divided evenly between the two and Remus a handful of Honeyduke's candy and explained to them that he went to get them when they were still shopping.

Sirius gave them the biggest bag of candy for each person that they had ever seen, filled with all sorts of candy and new quills and ink bottles (for he was the reason that their number of quills and ink had gone down).

Peter gave them each a stone that turned a different color depending on your mood. All three stones were a light shade of blue (and according to the maker of these, Hilda Nashotah) they were at ease.

The Marauders sneaked out of Hogsmeade under James's cloak and hurried past and around groups of people as they sneaked back in the castle. Carefully avoiding places where students could see their footprints visibly without a person to make them, they slithered around several professors that were coming back or to Hogsmeade.

After several more minutes of trekking through ankle deep snow, they finally reached the greenhouses and sneaked in from there. They ripped off the cloak and shoved it unceremoniously in James's book bag and headed towards the main corridor that led to the Great Hall.

But after a few minutes of walking, Remus doubled over and dared to take a look at the darkening sky. He could feel sharp pains prod hard against his ribs.

"Sorry, I reckon I'm not feeling well," Remus said and forced himself to walk again despite the prods of pain that shot up and down his legs.

"Go see Madam Pomfrey," James instructed and nudged Remus in the direction of the hospital wing, "I'm tired so I'm going to sleep soon as well; maybe I'll read your book or something until I fall asleep but we're not doing anything exciting. Don't feel bad for missing out."

"We're not saying this either just to make you feel better," Sirius said sincerely and truly meant it, "I'm exhausted and spending the rest of the nicking food and staying in bed."

Peter nodded in a silent agreement and nudged Remus a little farther ways. "Please Remus. You look ill."

Remus nodded and walked dizzily to the hospital wing, his book bag swinging on his shoulder as it tried to weigh him down but when he felt his legs about to give out, he rapped on the hospital wing's dark oak doors and stumbled in.

Madam Pomfrey muttered the whole time about being reckless and guided Remus to the bed.

"Get some sleep," she ordered, not giving Remus any room to argue, "you won't sleep tonight so you'll need some rest."

Remus, who was exhausted himself, happily obliged without protesting. And for the first time he had no trouble sinking into the bed and closing his eyes, letting sleep take him away again.

~_The moon's glow pierced Remus's eyes as he opened them. He looked up, dreading the full moon with all his heart, wishing he didn't have to go through the pain. He sprang to his feet so fast his head spun with dizziness. Remus shook his head clear and when he could see properly his worst fear emerged from the shadows of the forest. His friends, James, Peter, and Sirius all strode up to him._

_They approached Remus and waited for him to say something. Acknowledging the hint, he opened his mouth but no noise came out; instead pain racked his body so quickly it caused the smaller boy to fall to his knees; doubled over in pain. He looked up at his friends, a pleading look glimmered in his eyes as he looked around for support._

_"How dare you? How dare you even look at me?" James raged._

_"Who could ever be friends with someone such as yourself?" Peter inquired in an unusual cold voice._

_"Monster, would they say about werewolves? Or was it hell that they called werewolves? Different names, but all true," Sirius mocked with eyes glittering with hate._

_"No!" Remus managed to gasp through the increasing pain. He wished it would all just end, an easier way to go._

_"That's right," James hissed with narrowed eyes, "we figured out your secret."_

_"And now we want nothing more to do with you," Sirius said the other two nodding in agreement._

_"Away with you. No one will ever be friends with you. No one likes killers like you," James snarled. The three boys watched Remus with twisted smiles. Remus felt everything go black._~

Remus woke up with a start and growled to himself as he sat up. He felt sore already and the full moon hasn't even rose yet. His thoughts went back to the dream; his friends abandoning him.

_T'was merely a dream. . ._ a little voice commanded in his mind.

_That could happen. . ._ another voice argued.

_It was just a dream . . ._ the voice reassured.

_A dream that_ will_ come true someday . . ._ the other voice said firmly.

_Some day . . ._ the voice purred.

Remus knew it was true, he knew that one day, they would find out and they would banish him. Remus wondered what he would do when he had to leave Hogwarts. Surely they would tell everyone that he was a werewolf and maybe the Minister of Magic would even exile him. Remus thought some more, forced to be alone with his thoughts.

Maybe he could find a spell that would make all his traveling things lighter and fly off on his broom to the south tropics and stay there. He could take out all his money from Gringotts which was quite a bit of money. He could probably live off that money well into his twenties and hopefully be able to still have enough for his future. He knew finding a job was going to be impossible due to his lycanthropy, so he listed other ideas on how to get money. Maybe if he learned to become an animagus he could sneak around and grab food from different places. Maybe if he was lucky to become an animagus he would be able to hunt for his food.

Time flew and Madam Pomfrey was escorting him out of the hospital wing to the Whomping Willow. Remus nodded his goodbyes and follows he stone stairs that led to the Shrieking Shack. His second home for seven years.

He sat in the small, creepy to room. Little patches of dust rose from his feet when he walked around, pacing.

Remus stared at the sky. It was completely dark and the moon was just beyond the horizon. He stood up and cried out. Pain rampaged through his body. It felt like he was on fire and couldn't put it out; burning. He fell to his knees and tried to grasp the closest thing for support. His hand dug into the chair's armrest as he felt hot tears spring from his eyes.

The rest of the burning sensation dulled as pain in his feet increasingly became impossible to bear. His bones started to crack, bone by bone, as his feet started to grow larger. With each crack there was a click as the bones broke and mended into larger and thicker bones. Next the pain traveled up his legs. His bones in his legs felt like they were being crushed and snapped under the weight of a giant's foot.

His legs buckled and Remus lay on the floor screaming in pain. His legs grew longer, more powerful and at last the pain rose to his upper body spreading all over. His ribs felt like a hand was grabbing each one and pulling upward to snap the bones. Remus felt sick after hearing each crack of his ribs and they mended into a werewolf's ribs. His arms already were changing and his face was the last to change. By now, Remus was writhing on the floor in agony crying out for help as his cheek bones snapped and everything became blurred and darker. He couldn't concentrate on any of his thoughts. Remus opened his mouth for one more cry for help but a howl erupted from the back of his throat.

The werewolf lay on the ground for a moment then let out a low whine. It lifted its battered head off the ground and surveyed its surroundings with its golden eyes. It swiped a tongue over its fatal fangs and sniffed the air. The werewolf could sense the full moon Ben though it couldn't see it. It raised its scarred muzzle and howled long and loudly. When no other howl answered in return the werewolf turned around and started sniffing around.

The urge for human flesh soon became impossible to ignore. Its thirst for blood became greater making the werewolf hungry. It clawed at the door trying everything it could to escape the room. When it was unsuccessful, the werewolf snarled and threw itself across the room hoping to break down the wall. It let out an angry roar as it smashed into a mirror that shattered covering the werewolf with shards of glass.

It bellowed in anger and shook out its fur to rid of the glass. The scent of blood bathed the top of the werewolf's mouth were his scent glands were and its golden eyes traveled down its arm as the blood trickled down like a tiny stream. Saliva dripped down from its mouth as he stared hungrily at the blood. He lapped up the blood and was desperate for more. It launched itself at a broken chair and managed to cut his arm open more. The werewolf managed to greedily lap the blood flowing from the open cut. Its desire for human flesh though was not quenched.

The werewolf was trapped without any prey and without flesh it could not bear to ignore. It'd do anything for flesh, even if it meant its own flesh. The werewolf sniffed its arm and bit down hard; blood splashing the ground and flesh hit the fangs.

The werewolf howled and proceeded to lick the blood off its arm. It still craved flesh and it bit its arm again and was delighted as more blood flowed and he was able to get the taste of flesh.

And it continued to bite itself until the sky started to rise. The werewolf looked up at the brightening sky and felt all of its bones snap and reform into human bones. The werewolf, who fell to the ground, was now a first year student. Remus could smell the strong scent of smell then everything went black.

"I wonder where's Remus," James said as they walked to the Great Hall. Very few students were in the Great Hall for they were all home for Christmas with their families to celebrate.

"I have no idea," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"He's missing out on a great breakfast," James commented eating another piece of toast.

"Slow down, James. The food isn't going anywhere," Peter said, amused.

"I'm hungry and I want to find Remus," James replied trough a mouthful of food.

After James, Sirius, and Peter all had eaten their fill they walked out and searched each corridor and when they arrived at the moving staircases they climbed to the very top only to climb back down. Out of breath the three boys stopped.

"I don't know where he could be," Peter panted.

"We could try the hospital wing, the headmaster's office, our dorm room once more," Sirius suggested.

"Let's go in that order," James said leaning against the wall. They slowly made their way to the Hospital Wing. The doors were shut and locked which came as a surprise to them for the doors were never locked. James wanted to knock on the door but then he reminded himself, someone could be in there seriously injured at Madam Pomfrey needed total concentration.

"Should we just knock?" James asked.

"Yeah," Sirius said. James was about to knock when the doors swung open and Madam Pomfrey was fussing over a body. James tried to get a better look but she was covering it.

"Have you seen Remus?" James asked.

"He's been seriously injured," Madam Pomfrey said gravely. James felt his heart skip a beat. He rushed over to the body to see Remus's blood covered body laying on a bed. He clasped a hand to his mouth. Sirius and Peter were right by his side looking horror struck at the sight of their friend. His body was caked with dry and new blood. Deep cuts seared across his body. His neck was torn away so they could see flesh.

"What happened?" Sirius whispered, mortified.

"He was attacked, but no one knows from what," Madam Pomfrey explained and bustled around his bed, "I found him like this."

"Will he be okay?" James asked, not being able to tear his gaze away.

"We need to take him to St. Mungos immediately before he loses anymore blood," Madam Pomfrey said briskly.

"Yes, but will he be okay?" Sirius repeated a bit more urgently.

Before she could answer, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall came bursting in.

"Can you take him to St. Mungos?" Madam Pomfrey asked briskly. "You've got to apparate him out of here and you are the only one I can trust to do so with an unconscious patient."

Dumbledore grasped Remus's limp hand and with a pop vanished. James couldn't admire that properly for his mind was on different things.

"Professor," James said turning to her, "we've got to go to! I mean-Remus is our friend too! I want to know how he is! I can't sit here and worry about him all day!"

Sirius and Peter nodded.

"I suppose," Professor McGonagall said, "use the Floo. His password is Lemon Drop."

James, Sirius, and Peter ran out of the hospital wing and up to Dumbledore's office. Several times, James nearly lost his temper with students who were trying to talk to him—to stop him. Peeves was bobbing along, calling James, Sirius, and Peter names but they chose to ignore the ghost that was growing more desperate to get their attention. They managed to shake off Filch, Professor Flitwick, and Peeves, all whom were trying to talk to them at once.

James managed to say the password (through his hard breathing from running) and watched as the gargoyle jumped to life, spinning around and creating a stone staircase that winded its way up to the Headmaster's office. They each grabbed a handful of Floo and quickly transported themselves to St. Mungos hospital.

Immediately, they were greeted by Professor McGonagall, who escorted them to Professor Dumbledore. The three ran up to Professor Dumbledore when they spotted him and skidded to a shaky halt.

"Where is he, sir?" James asked wildly, panting heavily.

"They've got him in a room with undivided attention from these wonderful Healers," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Where?" Sirius asked; he, too, was panting hard.

Professor Dumbledore pointed down the hall and didn't get to say anything else for the three hurried off in that direction. Sirius was the first to barge in with James and Peter.

The first thin they noticed was how strong the scent of the potions they were giving Remus and pouring on top of him. The second thing they noticed was how the scents of blood overpowered the vile smelling potions. The three knew better than to intrude while the professionals were working so they backed out and waited anxiously outside. After what is seemed like forever, someone came out with blood covering his gloves and coat.

"Where is his mother?" the healer asked.

James never realized that his mother wasn't here.

"I dunno," Sirius said worriedly looking around, "I haven't seen her either."

"How is?" Peter echoed everyone else's thoughts.

"He'll bore those scars we couldn't give rid of, but he's strong. He'll be extremely sore when he wakes up, not to mention a lot of pain."

"Can we visit him?" James asked.

"Wait for him to wake up, but all right."

James, Sirius, and Peter all sneaked quietly in his room to see Remus in his current state.

Remus was lying in his bed with his eyes closed but he seemed to be awake for he stirred slightly with the sound of his friends. His arms and wrists were covered in bandages just like his two legs and ribs.

The boys could see clearly the damage that was done to Remus. His neck was black (the potions reduced it to a bruise). His eye was black and swollen. His face was covered in long cuts.

"My god," Sirius whispered at the sight of his friend.

As if roused by the sound of his friends' voices, Remus stirred and lifted his head weakly. Groaning, he put his hand to his head to rid of the pounding pain; he breathed in heavily and winced as his hand flew to his broken and healing ribs.

"What happened?" Peter asked through his state of shock.

"I can't—I don't remember—I don't remember—I can't remember," Remus said in an airy voice.

The Marauders exchanged looks of surprise for their friend never sounded this distant before. They stepped closer to Remus who backed away, confused but still had that dreamy look in his eyes.

"Do you know who we are?" Sirius asked slowly, feeling stupid asking this question.

"Yeah," Remus said, his head hurting even more as he fought to think through his hazy mind, "Potter, James. Black, Sirius and Pettigrew, Peter."

"Did you call us by our surnames?" James asked, looking at his three friends.

Remus gave him a puzzled look. "I did?"

"Oi," James whispered with an anxious glance at his friends each wearing the same expression.

"What?" Remus slurred as if he as drunk.

"It's all right," the healer said walking in, "the potion is getting him mixed up. It'll wear off soon."

They seemed to visibly relax as Remus stood up, wincing as he put pressure on his legs. James laughed (for the first time that day) and gently pushed Remus onto his bed again.

"Relax Remus," Sirius said quietly and sat down next to his friend. "We'll stay with you until this drunk potion wears off?"

Remus, who was still looking dazed, laughed and nodded furiously. James and Peter came to join them on the bed and sat next to their injured friend, but something in the back of James's mind was still worrying him; something that Remus held close to him.


	12. XII: Hope is Gone

Sirius and James had a fun time with "drunk" Remus but the potion was starting to wear off as Remus's senses were becoming sharper again. And when the effects wore off completely, the boys told Remus what they did when he was dazed.

"James?" Remus said groggily. "James, you prat."

"Sirius did it too," James said, "it was memorable because we will never see you like that again!"

Remus attempted to glare at his friends but could not accomplish a proper glare for everything was still a blur.

"You're becoming sober again," Sirius said and grinned madly as Remus glowered at the young Black heir.

"I always was!" Remus snapped as defiantly as he could but despite his attempts to sound defiant, his friends burst out laughing.

Sirius and James each took turns telling Remus the story of everything that happened from hearing the dreadful news of Remus's attack to Peter's comment to teasing Remus till now. The only one who did not laugh as much as the others was the same one who was scowling the moment the word "drunk" came into the conversation.

"You said I looked like I was drunk?" Remus echoed and rounded on Peter. "And you gave them the idea to use that to their advantage."

Peter grinned sheepishly.

"And when Evans came to subject you perked up!" Sirius recalled with a hearty laugh.

"Oi," Remus said. James rolled his eyes and Remus knew that his messy haired friend fancied Lily Evans.

"You really—er—enjoyed talking about her!" James said and laughed. "It was funny!"

"We got you to say some ridiculous stuff," Sirius added and let out his usual bark-like laugh.

"I see you took my delirious state to your advantage for your own mere amusement," Remus said evenly (summing it up) and raised his head a bit, "do not expect it to happen again."

Sirius and James grinned. "What are friends for?"

Remus cracked a grin but then it faded.

"Where's my mum? Did she come when I was not awake?"

The grins faded from his friends' faces too as they stumbled for an answer.

"What? Is she all right?" Remus demanded, suddenly becoming urgent.

"We dunno," Sirius said slowly and cast his gaze away.

Remus sat straight upward again. The only thing Remus felt was the weight of the world's entire worries drop directly into his stomach.

"What do you mean?" Remus said sharply. He started to his feet but hands held him fast. Though he could not struggle, Remus refused to sit back down.

"You have to stay put, Remus," James said firmly, standing up and blocking Remus's path.

"Tell me now," Remus said in a shaking voice, he felt panic start to rise through his throat, threatening to mute him.

"Professor Dumbledore is going to your house," James said and cast worried looks at Sirius and Peter, unsure of what to say.

Remus jumped to his feet, ignoring his protesting ankle, and ran to the door before his friends could react but his ankle caught fast and held him down as his hand slipped on the handle and he fell to the floor with a thud.

James and Sirius quickly jumped into action while Peter tried talking to Remus to find himself and find sense in his actions.

Remus stopped struggling against the stronger hands and was forced to listened to Peter.

"Listen, Remus," Peter said and knelt in front of the young werewolf, "we'll find Professor Dumbledore and check up on things but you have to stay put. Can you promise me that?"

Remus slumped against the hands and sagged, burying his face in his hands for the briefest moment.

"Okay?" Peter repeated with the same firm voice that was so often heard from Remus's voice.

"Find him and hurry," Remus said in a pained voice.

He allowed James and Sirius to push him back onto a chair whilst Peter scampered out of the room first with James and Sirius on his tail leaving Remus alone.

Peter was sure they circled the whole hospital, from the top most floor to the lowest at least three times if not four. But when the party of three were about to give up and go back to Remus, they stumbled into Professor Dumbledore; they panted heavily as they fought to catch their breath. James, Peter, and Sirius noticed at once Professor Dumbledore's alarmed yet calm and reserved expression.

"What is it, sir?" Peter asked, still catching his breath.

"Remus's house in under a shield spell but is being attacked. Numerous Death Eaters are trying to get in," Dumbledore said in a grave voice and whisked past the boys. James had a feeling Dumbledore knew more than he was letting off.

But James had barely enough time to ponder that for he shoved it to the back of his mind as hazel eyes flared with alarm.

"We promised we'd get Remus," Sirius said uncertainly, looking over his shoulder.

"He'd kill us if we let anything happen to his remaining parent," Peter said and started running back to Remus.

Back in the room, Remus was pacing the floor, getting more and more anxious with each passing minute. Hearing the clock tick seemed like it was taunting him, growing louder in his head as until it was screaming at him.

He went against everything and heading to the door, Remus was about to open it but it suddenly swung open, hitting his head hard, and sending him sprawling.

Remus groaned as stars blazed in his vision but immediately forced them away as he saw Peter rush in.

"Oi, Peter! What is it?" Remus asked, shooting to his feet and waiting anxiously for a reply. But Peter only shook his head and motioned for them to exit.

Soon enough, Remus found himself half running and half hobbling down the hall with Peter. He explained everything while running, making it a challenge to comprehend what his friend was saying but Remus got the just of it as he continued to listen.

Skidding to a halt, Remus saw Professor Dumbledore with James and Sirius.

"Well?" Remus demanded though slightly out of breath and dizzy with pain. "What's happening, Professor?"

"Your mother is under a shield charm that is powerful but not unbeatable—there are Aurors there with her, helping her fight—"

"That's my mother!" Remus said desperately, "I'm not going to sit here! I have to see her!"

"I understand but—"

"Please, Professor," Remus implored helplessly as he looked around, feeling empty and lost and desperate.

Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand and something silver and flying burst out of his wand tip.

"Sending a message via patronus," Professor Dumbledore explained.

Remus even had a moment to marvel at that before Professor Dumbledore offered his arm to Remus.

"Can we go?" James asked, stepping forward.

Professor Dumbledore looked as if he was about to object but stopped himself and finally nodded. And Remus felt another burst of pain shoot through his entire left side and hissed loudly. James, Peter, and Sirius grabbed Dumbledore's arm as we and with a loud snap, the five disapparated.


	13. XIII: Despair

Remus side apparated with Dumbledore for the first time and instantly knew he did not like it. He never felt anything like it before for it felt like being suffocated by a tube. As uncomfortable as Apparation was, Remus still found it interesting. He thought he was being strangled while apparating but realizing it was just how it felt like.

Remus was half glad his friends came along and yet a small twinge of regret stirred deep within. Remus found himself falling painfully to his knees in his backyard when the suffocating feeling stopped and heard the familiar sound of the beach, waves crashing against the shore. He got up and looked around seeing a group of Aurors standing in a circle.

"Move, get out of the way," Dumbledore said shoving some of the Aurors away to reveal two bodies in the center of the circle. Remus followed Dumbledore in his wake.

"Who was it, Alastor? Dumbledore growled.

Remus realized that he never heard Dumbledore quite this angry and despite his sometimes hazy and even temper, he looked and sounded positively alarming.

But at the sound of his name a man turned to face Dumbledore and Remus. This man had a face that bore many scars although still youth was held in his scarred face and he had a magical blue eye that swiveled around in its socket. If Remus were not so afraid for his mother, he would have been shocked.

"Where's is she?" Remus demanded.

Alastor's magical eye swiveled to the back of his head whilst his real eye stopped on Remus. He turned to Dumbledore and directed the Headmaster with his good eye. Dumbledore stood rigid but shoved past the crowd albeit the crowd started to part for Dumbledore; they revealed the bodies that they were huddled around.

The crowd of people seemed to go on forever as Remus followed in Dumbledore's wake but as soon as he caught a glimpse of one of the bodies; he wish the crowd would swallow him back up and never let him see it.

However, as his feet continued to move the last people stepped sideways and Remus emerged to the center of the ragged circle, stopped, and looked down at the suffering face of his beloved mother.

Remus let out a strangled cry and dropped to his knees, looking desperately for signs of his mother's arise.

Syrena stirred and opened her eyes at the sound of Remus's voice. Green eyes stared at blue for the longest time before she was the first to speak.

"I'm still here."

Remus smiled weakly and tried to laugh a laugh of relief but his voice was lost and his laughter died.

"Once we get you healed and fixed up you can then make a full recovery—"

Syrena smiled back and took Remus's hand in hers, holding it gently and reassuringly, gazing at her son with a sort of furious pride and affection.

"I'm not going to leave you."

Remus shook his head; tears pricked his blue eyes as he continued to look at his mother, though she looked fiercely at him.

"We will get you feeling better, I promise. Can you stand? Can you walk?"

Her eyes suddenly looked different, distant.

"John?" Syrena murmured, "John?"

"No," Remus said shaking his head, "no I'm not John."

Syrena frowned, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she looked at Remus with such a fierce gaze, for a moment, he forgot that she was gravely injured.

"Have you come to get me?"

Remus only stared wordlessly.

"I've missed you John," Syrena whispered with a painful smile. "Your death was untimely."

Remus felt heart shatter in two. Ignoring the tears that pricked at his blue eyes, he bent closer and whispered to her.

"I'm here."

Syrena's smile widened as her breathing became more ragged and uneven.

"I knew it was you. I missed you John. I'm glad I'm coming back to you."

Remus now felt the hot tears fall from his eyes as he failed to keep them at bay.

"Come on," Remus coaxed gently as his grip of his mother's hand tightened.

"And everything will be back to normal? Like how it was before? We have such a proper family?"

"If you so desire than I promise you," Remus said and did not bother to wipe the tears from his face/

The young werewolf was trembling all over uncontrollably and started to panic when he felt his mother's hand fall limply in his hand. He tightened his grip on her hand but she did not react.

He could feel his last drop of happiness drain from him as he bent over his mother's dead body. He stared into the eyes of his beloved mother; her eyes were cold glazed over. Death was etched upon her beautiful face.

"NO!" Remus howled, burying his face in his hands.

He felt tears pour down his face as his mother stared back up at him with unseeing eyes. He could feel James, Sirius, and Peter suddenly crowd over. He bent over her body and shielded it from anyone's gaze wanting and hoping his mother was not actually dead but merely asleep. It felt as if the light that kept him going burned out, as if it were meant to.

An hour later, a few minutes later, Remus could not tell, raised his head. He was grief stricken and heart broken. His mother lay there, peacefully gazing at the stars (even perhaps becoming one) as she lay there frozen. He instantly felt guilt wash over him as he was the prime reason his parents were no longer with him and suddenly he felt cold.

Sirius, James, and Peter were still at his side. Remus paid them no attention, instead he bent over and kissed his mother's forehead and held her cold hand in his as he studied her face, for what it seemed like, for the last time.

"I love you too," Remus said to his mother in particular and dropped her hand, folding it gently with the other hand.

Remus stood up and gripped his wand so tightly he was surprised it did not snap in half. His friends left his side to allow him to grieve in peace and he was grateful but now he walked inside his house and slammed the door, heading toward his kitchen that did not seem like his own anymore.

The glass table was occupied by Professor Dumbledore and the familiar scarred faced wizard whom Remus saw earlier. He paused at the entrance and looked over his shoulder, confused on where he should go.

"It is you and only you we want to speak to," Dumbledore said softly waved his wand; the chair moved out to allow Remus to sit across from them. Remus obliged and sat down uneasily though he was too numb to notice.

"Remus, tonight was a tragedy and I am sure you want to avenge Syrena's death, but listen to me, Remus, do not go looking for Greyback," Dumbledore said gently though his blue eyes were grave.

Remus shook his head. "We will meet again under certain circumstances, sir."

And though his voice was strong, he was numb inside, feeling nothing but emptiness and pain. No longer did he feel anything but grief and sorrow. Professor Dumbledore welcomed the silence until it was interrupted once more.

"How did she die?" Remus asked quietly, though his eyes did not leave his hands.

"The Imperius Curse," Dumbledore said with a steely note Remus never heard in him. "She injured herself."

Remus felt the room swim but he forced himself to bring him back to the room. And through his grief, he could see the rest of the people sitting down by the beach, his friends included.

Unable to bear the pain, he sprang to his feet and burst out of the kitchen, running to the back door, swinging it open wildly, and running down the block as far into the woods as he could before he reached the edge lf the forest and roared his pain.

"You promised you'd stick with me!" Remus bellowed the childish words to the sky.

But the stars said nothing but winked mockingly at him as he sank to his knees, stifling his moan from behind his hands. He lay there, ignoring everything but the racing thoughts that rampaged in his mind.

He did not know when sleep came but when it did, he was already half dead to the world.


	14. XVI: Grief

Remus woke up, his eyes fluttering for a moment before he sat up and rubbed his eyes that were bloodshot and red around. He could feel everything come back at once, making him dizzy all over again as all the memories of last night came surging through his thoughts, gnawing at him from the inside out.

He bowed his head in grief and sat there for the longest time unable to move, unable to do anything but replay the terrible scenes from last night over and over again in his vision.

It was only until a gentle hand prodded him on the shoulder and an achingly familiar and comforting voice spoke ever so softly and quietly in his ear.

"Remus?" James whispered, placing his hand on the young werewolf's shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

Remus did not say anything but acknowledged James with the smallest incline of his head and though he did not want to talk to anyone, he did not shrug off James's hand.

"I had too," Remus whispered, not sure of what James was going to say next. He forced himself to continue, "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was not John but there are so many times I wish I was."

James murmured sympathetically, not knowing what to say but Remus (whose voice was too constricted to allow him to speak properly) just nodded his head in his silent acknowledgement that he was grateful for his friends' presence.

"I wish I was with them," Remus said hoarsely and stared at James for the first time.

James could not find a word to say but merely looked at Remus with a sort of furious pride Remus would see in his mother's eyes.

"I won't say 'I know how you feel' because I honestly don't know what you feel but we're all here to help you. Sirius and Peter thought it would be best if we came and talked to you one at a time to avoid overwhelming you with our exhausting presence. But we _are_here for you," James said and sat down next to Remus who moved over in a gesture of welcoming.

"I vowed that I would not avenge my parents' death," Remus said in a hollow voice, "but the thought of me doing so just makes it easier to think about. I suffer, James!"

Remus's voice, the voice that was always so strong, was now breaking again as his voice constricted, not able to go on, the young werewolf just looked away. James could tell Remus wanted to be alone so he patted Remus's arm and got to his feet, walking away as quietly as he could until he reached the marble stairs that led upstairs.

He swung the door open and was immediately greeted by Sirius and Peter who were already firing questions at him all at once.

"Is he all right?"

"What's happening?"

"What'll Remus do?"

"What's going to happen now?"

James held up his hand and silenced his two friends for his head was spinning and his heart was sick.

"Remus is pretty shaken up," James said and sat down on the nearest bed.

"What's going to happen now?" Peter asked, sitting down next to James. "What'll Remus do?"

"I dunno," a voice said from the doorway, taking the three boys by surprise as they leaped to their feet and whipped around.

The three were turned, now, facing Remus who was standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"I dunno what's going to happen now," the young werewolf repeated shoving his hands in his pockets nervously to hide his scarred hands. "I suppose nothing can be worse than this so whatever does happen—I'm ready.

"Remus—we didn't mean to talk to you—no—we're just worried about you," Sirius said and suddenly fell silent.

Not only to Sirius but to James and Peter as well, Remus looked different to them—older, as if he already faced the world but was coming back for that short period of time; his expression was gaunt and hollow, there was no brightness of life in Remus's eyes, only grief.

Remus shrugged.

"I knew."

"_What_?"

The three chorused in disbelief.

"This whole nagging feeling was bugging me during this entire year; I could just tell something was going to happen. Dumbledore must have put a shield around this house because he must have known as well."

"And you knew this whole time?" Peter asked incredulously.

"I knew something like _this_would happen," Remus said and stared at his shoes, "I just didn't know it would be this soon or result in someone dead."

"And you kept it quiet?" Sirius asked softly, looking at Remus with somber gray eyes.

"It wasn't your burden to bear," Remus said with a stronger tone, now looking at his friends, "I need to talk to a few, I'll see you lot later and then we can hang around."

James realized how more mature Remus seemed; right now, Remus was the bravest person James had ever met, and he felt a surge of pride and admiration for the young first year. Remus shut the door quietly and left upon his words without a wave or a single look back.

"He knew after all this time that something did not feel right at his home and did not tell us?" James whispered. "And he was brave and kept it a secret from us. And after all the hard times I gave him . . ."

"We had no idea," Sirius said and leaned against the bed's post and sighed heavily, rubbing his weary eyes.

Remus sat across from Professor Dumbledore in his grand kitchen, the last time he'd been here was with his mother, evidently waiting for him to say something first for he really did not know what to say.

"I miss her too Remus," Professor Dumbledore said and folded his hands on the table, "her and John were quite the two at Hogwarts, extraordinarily bright. Mind you, Syrena was a beautiful young lady, she was desired by many."

Professor Dumbledore chuckled as Remus blinked in surprise at the Headmaster.

"Syrena and John weren't very fond of each other, you see. Your mother was one of the brightest witches I ever had. She was always found with a book tucked under her arm, much like you, Remus. John on the they hand, was gifted but very laid back. But when it came to Syrena, John seemed to feed off of attention; he bullied her all through her third year until she finally put her foot down. Quite a production it made, she really did yell at John."

"After that John seemed to increase his respect for Syrena and in her fourth year, for the first time, Syrena fit a time for John and her to sit down and talk. She has always turn down boys that would ask her out. And fifth year, when Syrena was Prefect, John would always get in trouble to just to get Syrena's attention. And all through sixth year, she denied her feelings for John insisting that they were just friends. But finally in their seventh year, they started dating."

Remus smiled for the first time in a long time. He loved hearing stories about his parents and their time at Hogwarts and his expression seemed inviting for Dumbledore to tell him one. The Headmaster gave him a small smile and sighed, apparently thinking of what story to tell his student first.

* * *

**This chapter is short but the next one and this one are supposed to connect. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you review!**


	15. XV: Flashbacks

"It was your parents' first year at Hogwarts and your mother and father were sorted into Gryffindor. They were elated but once John and Syrena went their separate ways, they became different people..."

**__First Year__**

"Oi! It's Déclassé!"

Eleven year old Syrena snapped her head up from her book to see the familiar and arrogant jerk, John Lupin striding across the room to her with the biggest sneer on his face.

As soon as they caught eye contact, Syrena dipped her head down and shoved a book in her face to avoid John, hoping he would leave.

"Want another book?" Lupin called, waving his hand and holding a book in the other.

Syrena did her best to glare at the Lupin boy but John already chucked the book he hand in his hand in her direction, missing her head by inches.

Roaring with laughter, Lupin waved cheekily and walked away with his group of three friends stomping after John, sniggering the entire way out and pointing visibly at Syrena who continued to read her book, tired of the way John was constantly acting like he owned the school.

Syrena scowled and wiped away the single tear that fell from her eye. All throughout her first year, Lupin would always bully and taunt her merciless until he would sometimes reduce the girl to tears.

She ran out of the library with her head bowed, wiping furiously at her eyes, and clutching her books. She was so intent on trying to be invisible that, when she rounded the corner, she slammed into Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster, himself.

Syrena looked positively alarmed as she looked up at Professor Dumbledore with mingled fear and anxiety.

"I'm really sorry, Professor," Syrena said, wiping frantically at her eyes with her sleeve.

"It was no big deal," he said soothingly and turned away, "come to my office."

Syrena, who was more than scared, obeyed the Headmaster with no hesitation and trailed miserably after Professor Dumbledore until they made it to his office.

He guided her into a chair that sat right across from him; he folded his hands on his desk and studied her behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Is there something you wish to tell me?"

Syrena shook her head, in a weak attempt at lying but before she could stop herself, she blurted out the whole story.

Professor Dumbledore soaked up her words, nodding occasionally as she paused then plunged on with her story. But when she finished, her eyes widened in realization.

"Please don't do anything," Syrena implored, shifting her feet uncomfortably.

"If he is upsetting one of my students I don't know if I'll be able to do nothing," Professor Dumbledore said calmly and evenly, he seemed to be at ease with Syrena.

"I'll fix it, sir!" Syrena vowed. "I promise! Just give me time, sir, and I will surprise you!"

"I'll hold you to that," Dumbledore said and stood up, "I suppose you don't want to be stuck in my office any longer. I will see you later, Syrena."

Syrena collected her things in a frenzy, her book bag swinging wildly as she fought to control it, and scurried out of his office.

_**_Second Year_**_

"Oi, look! It's Déclassé, reading again!"

Syrena was in her second year of Hogwarts, her vow was still echoing in her mind, those same words she vowed to Dumbledore in her last year.

But for now, she was sitting peacefully at the water's edge with her friend at her side; they were both buried in a book, evidently enjoying the peaceful silence that surrounded them like glass.

That was until John Lupin, the very same boy, Syrena came to hate, shattered it by shouting loud enough for everyone to hear him.

She did her best to ignore him and considered it successful until Lupin went out of his way to swagger over to her.

"Is that a new book?" John asked in a very arrogant tone that made Syrena flinch.

She glared at Lupin the best she could but did not reply when he asked her.

"It's rude not to reply to a question that has been asked," John drawled lazily, sitting back at his own ease with the utmost arrogant look on his face.

"What do you want?" Syrena asked, forcing her voice to sound strong as though she was not afraid of him.

Lupin smirked but looked dramatic.

"Not very friendly I see. I think these books aren't good for you," John said in a tone of mock hurt but flashed a sneer as he added the last part.

Syrena scowled but exclaimed loudly when John snatched the book away and tossed it in the water. Lunging for the book, Syrena missed, then turned to face him with an expression of pure loathe.

"Y-you are just a terrible person!" Syrena said though she did not sound confident nor convincing to John as he burst out laughing.

"I'm crushed—utterly crushed!" John howled between his laughter. His friends seemed to cling to every word.

"You look a little steamed, Déclassé," Lupin said sobering up. "The water will cool you off."

Before Syrena could react, Lupin seized her by her arm and thrust her into the shallow water. Syrena's friend was screaming at Lupin, shouting her anger out on the terrible second year but John paid her no attention.

"Get away!" her friend screamed.

John laughed and tried shoving her away.

"Just go!"

"Shut up," John sneered.

Go you worthless person!"

But every insult seemed to bounce off him as if he was immune to every insult that was thrown at him.

"Just go away! Now!"

John's friends burst out in imitation as Syrena's friend looked even more livid than before, shouting over the imitations and aiming her insults right at John.

He watched hungrily as Syrena dragged herself on land and positively howled with laughter, doubling over and gasping for air as Syrena stood up, dripping water, and clung to her book that was in her arms.

_**_Third Year_**_

Syrena took her time heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Enjoying the silence as she walked alone, she looked down at her book and felt a rush of confidence, and there was a definite spring to her step as she made her way to the Great Hall.

She tucked the book under her arm as she readjusted her book bag's strap and strode into the bustling room with her head held high. She looked upward at the enchanted ceiling, hoping that something would be different today.

But her friends tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to sit so she obliged but to everyone's surprise, Syrena didn't start reading, like she always did in the morning. She simply sat there and conversed with the ones around her.

Syrena made it to her third year at Hogwarts and had two successful years and was aiming for her third. But something stirred inside of her like a scaly monster that roused slightly at the sight of the one person she despised at Hogwarts.

He sat with too much confidence, acting like he was the most important person in that room. John Lupin seemed to have noticed the new person sitting at the table for he snickered loudly.

"I'm surprised you don't have your nose stuck in a book, Déclassé. Did you finally find a friend that isn't a book? Maybe it's a new quill or bit of old parchment..."

His friends roared their approval at his words and clapped him on the back or gave him a high five. As his friends congratulated John, Syrena felt something different stir inside her—the scaly monster had stood up and roared with anger, flaring its wings. It was as if Syrena had lit the monster inside of her and whatever else was happening, it did not matter as she stormed right up to John. Lupin stood up so fast, he seemed to rocket from his seat and he stared down at Syrena with mingled surprise, anger, arrogance, and disbelief.

"I'm surprised you even know what a book is! Oi! You think you are everything—strutting about the castle acting like you own Hogwarts and everyone here."

John looked completely dumbfounded as Syrena rumbled on.

"Clearly you never had someone tell you this so l will gladly be the first to say you aren't! You are a little arrogant prat with a terrible personality! And because of that you so desperately feel the need to be rude to everyone else to make up for your pathetic personality."

For once Lupin seemed lost for words as he stood there in the spotlight, being yelled at by the one person he adored tormenting.

"That's right!"

Syrena continued her rant for everyone to hear. All heads were turned to the two, especially Syrena.

"You don't have anything to say because your just too _THICK_ to come up with anything clever enough to say to me! After all two miserable years going to school with you, it took me this long to realize how thick you really are!" Syrena spat angrily and threw back her mane of black hair and for once her pale green eyes were flared up with wild anger.

John opened his mouth but could not find his voice.

"Now get out of here before I hex you into oblivion! And take your bloody friends with you! This will be the last time you make fun of me again! I'm done with your terrible antics!" Syrena snarled and pulled out her wand.

Lupin looked as if he received a blow to the face as he and his friends scurried out of the Great Hall; she noticed Lupin give her one last fleeting look before he disappeared around the corner.

Syrena sat back down, feeling like she would be capable of bursting with joy and pride she sat with a new authority.

The Great Hall erupted into cheers and applause; for all four houses knew how she used to be taunted and teased by Lupin and now she had finally ended it all.

**__Fourth Year__**

Syrena stood, empty handed, as she looked around for her friends at King's Cross Station. Platform was filled with bustling people as they were packing away to start a new year at Hogwarts. She was determined to have, yet, another good year but she felt different, more confident as she looked around.

Her pale green eyes surveyed the station as she recalled in her head the students she knew. She could pick out the first years as they looked excited and afraid at the same time and she could not help but smile as she remembered her first day going to Hogwarts as a first year.

But she was prodded out of her memories as she looked to see who grasped her arm to yank her out of her thoughts.

To her astonishment, she turned around to see John Lupin, the boy she had remembered the most, with his hand around her arm.

"What?" Syrena asked warily, shaking off his hand by slithering her arm out of his grasp.

"I—er—ever since the day you yelled at—me—I couldn't stop thinking about it," Lupin said shoving his hands nervously in his pockets and looking at the floor.

Syrena felt surprised at this statement for it was the last thing she would have guessed Lupin would say. Syrena recalled that very same day John was talking about and rolled her eyes at herself.

"I was rude," Syrena said scoffed at the memory, "I was being rude."

"Well, I deserved it," Lupin said with bleary smile but he looked directly at her, making the scaly creature inside her shift uncomfortably.

"You think I deserved it too, don't you?" Lupin said with an air of laughter.

Syrena looked down and smiled to avoid looking at Lupin.

"I don't mean to be inconsiderate, but is there something I could help you with?" Syrena asked, feeling more uneasy by each passing minute she spent alone with John.

"Er— well actually we—er—got off to a bad start. It was all my fault. I was hoping we could—well you know—start over?"

Syrena looked at him, surprise sparked her gaze as she continued to listen in silence.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I know I can never make it up to you. But can you find it in your beautiful heart to forgive me, Syrena?"

Syrena's eyes widened as she soaked in Lupin's words.

"You called me Syrena," she rasped, though amusement glittered for a moment.

"Well that's your name," Lupin said and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face.

"Well then of course we can start over, John," Syrena smiled and shifted her position

"Perfect," John said softly, returning her smile that seemed to give him an entirely new image of himself. His smile was genuine and real, unlike the smirk he usually wore.

"My 'beautiful heart'? Is that your way of flirting with me, John Lupin?" Syrena asked teasingly as John grinned.

"Maybe, you tell me," he said leaning closer to Syrena.

"Save it," Syrena said but she was still smiling and her pale green eyes danced with mingled emotions.

"So we can officially call each other friends?" John asked, clarifying himself though Syrena could tell the Lupin boy was not ready to end the conversation quite yet.

"You can call us that if you so desire," Syrena said casually as she smoothed down her skirt.

"Well, is that what you consider us as?" John asked, he knitted his eyebrows, evidently nervous about her answer.

"Yes," Syrena said simply and grasped his arm, "what a surprise for everyone we will give them once we return, eh?"

John laughed a laugh of relief as his whole body, that was so tense and rigid before, instantly relaxed with the answer that seemed to satisfy him.

"How great would it be if we waltzed into the Great Hall looking like this?" John asked, his blue eyes seemed to light up.

"That would be hilarious," Syrena agreed wholeheartedly. She was surprised that she could find talking to John Lupin so easy when she once loathed him.

Suddenly she felt different the longer she talked to him—something stirred inside her—something new that she did not feel before.

_**_Fifth Year_**_

Syrena Déclassé, a fellow fifth year student at Hogwarts, and a Prefect, was roaming the Astronomy Tower as she paced around the circular room; she frequently found herself engulfed in her own thoughts as she let them take control of her mind.

But other footsteps interrupted her as she whipped around, wand out, ready to jinx the person who scared her. However, the only person she saw standing at the top of the stairs of the Astronomy Tower was John Lupin, another fifth year at Hogwarts who also happened to be her new friend.

"John, you know you can't be here," Syrena said with a playing smile tugging at her lips.

"Ah, but lucky me—it was you who caught me," John said with his usual charming smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Syrena asked, genuinely curious. She turned around to look out over the lake to avoid facing him.

"What are you doing here?" John returned the question, coming up behind Syrena to join her by the window.

Syrena straightened up in a dignified manner.

"I happen to be a Prefect. I have the right to be here," she said proudly and smiled.

"Lurking in the Astronomy Tower?" John said, raising his eyebrow testily at her.

"I wasn't lurking!" Syrena said defiantly, and tugged at the hair tye that kept her hair out of her face.

"May we sit and talk?" John asked, and flashed Syrena a smile full of mischief.

"I'm on duty! I can't!" Syrena exclaimed and tried to sound firm.

"I'm already here, love," John said and sat down on the platform's stairs, "can't we just talk?"

Syrena looked like she was going to object, even insist that he would leave and return to the Gryffindor common room, but John's pleading smile won her over as she happily sat down on his left.

"Fine," Syrena said with a dazzling smile, "why call me love when you can call me by my name?"

John could tell Syrena was joking but he could tell that something had changed in her that drove John to the heights.

"And how many other girls have you said that too?" Syrena asked with an air of laughter.

"Just you," John said simply and looked at her, not taking his hand off hers but for some reason, she did not shrug it off.

Syrena smiled for she knew it was true or though she really trusted her friend's words. She felt contentment humming inside her as she enjoyed the peaceful feeling that washed over her.

"I really do love Hogwarts," John said quietly.

"I do too," Syrena agreed, "it is like a second home to look forward too. I certainly will miss Hogwarts when we graduate."

John murmured his agreement and propped himself on his elbows as he leaned back on the stairs.

"If everything was this easy—"

"—then what would be the point of really anything, right?" Syrena interjected and folded her hands in her lap nervously.

John smiled and lay back completely, draping one arm over Syrena as she rested her head against his shoulder.

**__Sixth Year__**

Syrena and John were both in the same tower they spent most of their fifth year in when they were not piled with homework. They had grown closer as she felt more confident with herself when she was around John.

Now they sat together, close together, even though there was plenty of room on the stairs. Syrena was tugging at the hair tie and pulled it out, letting her hair fall cascade over her shoulders on a straight waterfall of black hair.

"Don't you like me?" John asked, wanting to do nothing more but to bury his face in her sweet smelling hair.

He and Syrena sat in the same place in their fifth year in the Astronomy Tower.

"John," Syrena said uncertainly, "I don't even know if I am there yet. I am just finding things a bit complicated. I realized how cliché that sounds but it's really hard to kind of—stomach all this."

"I understand you perfectly," John said gently, looking directly at her as he spoke with confidence yet at the same time with something else lacing his tone.

"I'm glad you do yet I sense something else, John Lupin. I am sensing doubt. Do you doubt your friend? Do you doubt me, John?" Syrena asked cautiously as she waited for his reaction.

"I don't doubt you, Syrena. I never doubted you," John said despite his broken heart, "so I'm guessing you don't want to see me because you don't fancy me or—?"

"—don't be ridiculous," Syrena interrupted with a scoff. "You have it wrong but I am not here to explain it."

"Then what is it?"

"I told you, I am not here to explain it. I just hope that you understand what I am saying when I am saying it."

Syrena and John felt their gazes lock as they looked at each other with the same blazing expression.

"Then I'll wait—I'll wait for you," John whispered that was barely audible.

_**_Seventh Year_**_

"John?"

John whirled around and beamed from ear to ear at the sight of Syrena. She nervously tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear as it was tied in a loose knot.

"Hey, Syrena," John said and took her hand.

The moonlight was bright and shinning, dancing around the room that seemed to brighten when Syrena arrived.

Together they looked out from the Astronomy Tower to admire the beautiful summer's night that blessed them with the gracious warm weather.

"I can't believe it's already spring! This year had gone by so fast," Syrena said quietly and sighed contently, leaning her head against John's shoulder.

"I know," John agreed, grasping her hand briefly.

"Now there's something I want to talk about," Syrena said seriously, as she looked up at John with longing in her expression.

"Yes, Head Girl?" Syrena laughed and shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully.

"You said last year that you'd wait for me. Listen John, I think I have waited too long. A year too long—even I cannot deny my feelings for you."

John glowed from the inside out, picked her up, and spun her around as his voice became hoarse.

"Then you feel the same way than I?" John asked eagerly.

"Of course," Syrena whispered.

John let out another hoarse cry and swooped down to kiss her forehead. And for the first time in ages, Syrena finally felt at peace.

**__Proposal__**

"Syrena Déclassé, I loved you for the longest time and I won't imagine my life without you. Somehow I will show the world what's inside my heart."

Kneeling in front of her in front if a watching crowd, he pulled out the glittering ring that glimmered and winked playfully at Syrena.

"Marry me, love?" John asked with a big grin.

Syrena stood in pure shock, trying to find her voice but realizing that it was gone. Her eyes filled with tears as she could only manage to wordlessly nod. John beamed and slipped the ring on her finger, giving the crowd a thumbs up. They roared as John swooped down to plant a long lasting kiss on Syrena's lips as his hands slipped into hers.

"Thank you for everything," Syrena whispered to John after they broke apart.

"Thank you for giving me everything," John replied and smiled affectionately.

"I really do love you," Syrena said and smiled against John's mouth.

John chuckled as Syrena hummed against him. And from that moment, everything seemed so far away that Syrena would not have to worry anymore.


	16. XVII: Back at Hogwarts

For the first time in the three days the part of four were staying at Remus's house, The Marauders sat together and ate.

A long silence stretched before them as the only sound in that empty sining room was the clatter of forks against their plates. As the silence stretched, the boys became more figety until Remus broke it.

"Are we going to act like awkward people? We're all friends here."

"You're making a valiant effort to be strong," Sirius said and nearly dropped his fork, "that's one of the many things I admire about you."

Remus smiled at his friend's kind words.

"It is not all bad. At least my mother is somewhere were she wants to be."

"Life is unfair," Peter said and frowned deeply, "not one life is perfect."

"Life has its own idea of unfair," Remus said shrugging and looking through the glass windows that stretched from the wooden floor to the ceiling.

He cleared away their plates and sat back down at the glass table, waiting for them to say something.

"Want to go down by the water?" James asked as if he read Remus's mind.

The other three quickly nodded as they grabbed their shoes and jackets. Jogging lightly down the hill, they stopped as they reached the sandy shore.

They kicked off their shoes and buried their feet in the warm sand, loving how it was their personal feet warmers. They tore off their jackets and loosened their buttoned down shirts.

But soon enough, The Marauders found themselves rolling up their pants and wading in the cool water, letting the ocean water lap at their shins.

Remus stood in the water for the longest time, letting his problems wash away with the waves as they danced merrily against the sand, taking small rocks and loose shells with it as the waves pulled back.

"So, what's up?" Remus asked trying to break the awkward silence that found them again, "are you glad we're going back to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," James said and tried to smile, "but I like spending Christmas vacation here—you have a nice house."

"You really do," Sirius agreed, looking up from the water.

"Thanks," Remus said and cast his gaze elsewhere, "I'm glad we didn't miss any school though. That would've been hard to make up. Though, you two don't do much work."

"At least we do the homework!" Sirius said indignantly but grinned all the same.

"Yeah! How else do you think we're getting good grades?" James piped up.

Remus fell silent as he tried to disguise his amused expression.

"See? You don't just us enough credit," Sirius said smirking triumphantly.

Remus laughed for what it seemed like in the longest time. It seemes to send waves of shock throughout his body, giving him the familiar feeling he was convinced he would have never felt again.

"Then why do you complain about the work if you're so good?" Remus asked slyly, refusing to be outdone.

"Oh well," James said waving it off with a hand, "I'm plenty good at school anyway. I don't need homework and exams to prove it."

"Actually mate, you really do," Remus protested, raising his eyebrow.

"I hate all the work all the professors give us," Peter sighed and picked up a shell to admire it. He seemed to like enough for he stowed it away in his pocket and pickedup a small stone and chucked it as far as he could.

"I think everyone does," Sirius said absentmindedly and skippeda flat stone across the surface of the water.

"True," Peter said, looking half impressed as Sirous's stone skipped four times before sinking, "they still give us loads of it though."

"Just because students don't like work doesn't mean they won't stop," Remus said and shrugged, "but I'm with you Peter."

"I think people agree with me," Peter replied.

Remus got up and brushed the sand off his clothes.

"I think I'll be going now," Remus said, "I'll come get you when we're going to leave."

The young werewolf left no room for argument and clearly he wanted or needed to be alone for whatever he was going to next so the three hung back with protesting.

He didn't wait for an answer and walked off alone until he disappeared out of sight.

James frowned at his retreating friend.

"He really is trying to keep it all together," Sirius observed, "it's mentally exhausting for him though."

"Wish there was something we could do to help him. I mean Remus has been through so much lately," Peter said.

"Clearly," James said watching—Remus disappear from sight.

"But I don't know what to do."

When James finished his statement, the latter fell quiet, lettimg the sound of rushing waves fill in the silence and founnd it rather peaceful. It soothed them as they were trapped in their own thoughts.

After several minutes of wading around in the water, Remus came jogging back. He skidded to a halt by the beach, took a minute, then stepped out into the water to join his friends.

"Turns out we're leaving now—by Floo."

"_What?_" the boys chorused in disbelief.

Remus only nodded and motioned for them to follow him up the hill and to the house. The other three quickly did, grabbing their shoes and drying off their feet.

Excitment buzzed in Remus for he was anxious to get back to school and was very ready to leave the house he now despised.

They crashed through Remus's kitchen and stumbled into their living room. There, Alastor Moody was leaning heavily on his cane, waiting for the boys; the pot of familiar gray powder was next to him.

The four boys lined up and the battle scarred Auror, grabbed the powder (muttering to himself the whole time) and shoved the pot into their hands, his magical blue eye swiveled around, it seemed to observe them as they shifted uncomfortably.

Remus went first, ducking his head and stepping into his marble fireplace, he threw down the powder while saying "Hogwarts" and was engulfed in emerald flames. The warmth licked his clothes until the spinning started and the livong room, James, Sirius, Peter, Moody, and his grief started spinning away. James followed with Sirius behind James and Peter coming back last.

Remus landed on his knees in Professor McGonagall's the four boys all ended up in Professor McGonagall's office, they found themselves face to face with her.

"Glad to have you back, boys," she said with a weak smile, "it's been quiet here—less chaotic."

"Aw, I always knew deep, deep, deep down inside you enjoy our company," James said whose face split into a grin.

"You're getting carried away, Potter," Professor McGonagall said with a roll of her eyes, "and of course I'm dreadfully sorry about the horrible news, Lupin."

"Thanks Professor," Remus said in a hushed tone and cast his gaze away for a brief moment or two.

"Dinner'll be served in the Great Hall momentarily," Professor McGonagall said briskly and straightened her robes.

The Marauders filed out of her office, one by one without a word. The talked on theirnway to the Great Hall. The halls were empty except for a few professors lingering about in the halls but dod not spot the four boys.

Remus was enjoying his time back but as soon as they emerged into the Great Hall, students whipped around and craned their necks to see who it was. When the recognized Remus's frame with the three other that flanked him, they broke into a loud murmur.

Remus was bombarded with questions from curious students whonwere trying to grab him and pull him this way and that. Getting lost in the sea of people, Remus wanted to blast everyone away from him.

The young werewolf looked around for his friends but they disappeared and now he was alone in a crowd of interrogating people.

"What happened?"

"Where were you?"

"Why did Dumbledore leave?"

Remus felt angry enough to shout at anyone and everyone but instead he lowered his head and shoved past them all, ignoring the inquiring looks he received. And turning the corner, he knew that he was automatically running to the Gryffindor common room, hoping that his friends were there.

Once he said the password (Professor McGonagall had reminded them before they left) the portrait swung open, the noise of the common room died out as each head turned to see who had entered. And without warning, they shot to their feet and started herding around Remus, firing one question after another at him until he groaned and backed away, not sure to where he should have run to next.

Once he broke out into a sprint, Remus gasped from the pain that was so immense, he stopped in his tracks and leaned heavily against the wall once he calmed his shaking breath. He looked down at his ankle that did not seem to want to work with him. But as students saw him again, they ran up to him, asking questions that Remus chose to ignore.

"Leave me alone," Remus demanded and inched away; in an instant, he started running again but ignoring the pain that danced up and down his leg.

He sprinted, flat out, down the corridor, shoving past people who tried to block him while trying to shut out everyone, and ran outside. Inhaling sharply as the cold air bit his throat. Thankful that there was not anyone out there except a few who did not notice him, he ran until Hogwarts was out of sight.

Breathing heavily, Remus stole a glance over his shoulder but did not see a trace of anyone else but he, himself, and his thoughts that buzzed in his head. Then an idea popped in his head, giving him the mental image of seeing himself perched up in a tree, hidden from all prying eyes.

Grabbing the lowest branch if a nearby tree, he heaved himself up the trunk and into the safety of the tree, getting lost in the tangle of branches. He was able to see ahead of him, watching the students walk around in the snow, conversing with one another.

Remus had stranded himself up in a tree, past the Whomping Willow and past the Quidditch Pitch. He felt as thought the pressure of people had temporarily evaporated. Ideas were running in his head though most of them were not his best. He knew he was not planning on going to the Great Hall where all anyone would just interrogate him.

When he decided that he would go the very same small island near near the departure of the Hogwarts Express, Remus started to lower himself until the sharp pain in his ankle made him stop. Remus thought getting up the tree was hard until he realized that getting down was the issue with an injured ankle.

The young werewolf was foolish enough to climb thirty feet up a tree, forgetting the details in the heat of the moment. So taking a deep breath, he presumed his climb back to the ground.

Move hand down, find good footing, dig other hand in trunk, lower yourself. Move hand down, find good footing, dig other hand in trunk, lower yourself. Remus repeated this process util he had made it five feet down the tree's thick trunk. But as soon as he let go of his grip on his left hand, he lost his footing, his ankle giving out and he scrambled for a grip but his left hand could not hold the rest of him up so he plummeted.

Twenty-five feet, twenty feet, fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet, smack.

Remus landed on his already wounded ankle again and felt the sickening pain lance up his leg. Groaning, Remus collected himself and got up in a sitting position. His ankle did not seem to stick out at weird angles but it hurt so he used the trunk of the tree to help pull himself to his feet.

He staggered and fell off-balanced. Remus tried again and managed to add most of his weight on his unharmed ankle. Once he started walking, his ankle gave away beneath him and Remus toppled over again.

Not knowing what to do, he just laid there on the snow covered ground shivering and thinking. If he could only get his friends' attention they could help him but shouting from where Remus was now was not an option.

He fiddled with his wand and an idea lit his mind.

Summoning all he could, Remus lifted his wand to the air, ignoring the cold and letting the memory of his parents sitting happily sent warmth to the very tip of fingers.

"Ex-expe-expecto p-"

But he could not find the energy to send his patronus outward; Remus was beginning to think that he should wait for centaurs or some creature to find him but the frightening  
image scared him.

Remus, once again, tried to get up and managed to get a few feet closer to the clearing but collapsed. He got up again, struggling to his feet but this time with a stick as a makeshift cane. As he staggered on, his mind began to wander back to his mother.

And once again, her face, warm and happy filled his vision as it nearly blinded him. He pulled out his wand again and raised it to the air.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Remus bellowed and a weak silver wolf burst from the end of his wand and stared up at Remus with unblinking silver eyes.

"Find James, Sirius, or Peter" Remus rasped, hoping that his patronus would be strong enough to make it the rest of the way to the castle.

He sat and watched the wolf depart, trapped and forced in his own dark thoughts which started traveling to his mother and father, now reunited, leaving their only son feeling worse and worse the more he pondered it.

The cold was seeping in as Remus watched his wolf disappear from his sight and the glow had gone. He fought to keep the happy memory his parents in his mind to fight off the cold.

Taking ginger steps, Remus managed to make it a little ways further before kneeling down in the snow and shiver, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm.

Remus cursed loudly as he hit his foot, sending pain tingling to the very inch of his foot. He started crawling his way back, the snow melted and soaked his legs to the bone. Remus had only himself to blame for if he hasn't run so far into the Forbidden Forest he would not be stuck outside, he began to feel tired and depressed as he trekked through the snow.

The image of his mother's dead and frozen face was stained in his mind making Remus tremble uncontrollably and not just from the cold. Remus was beginning to recall all the previous events of his mother's death all over again and his father's death began to creep back into his mind as he really alone with his thoughts. He willed them to stay on a happy subject but they continued to return to those two specific nights.

Remus felt shuttering pain in his right shoulder after hearing the soft sound of hooves pounding the ground and pain in his right upper arm. He looked at his shoulder and saw an arrow had impaled itself in his shoulder. Remus looked up and saw the faintest outline of a figure; confused, pointed his wand at the mysterious man. He narrowed his eyes through his dizziness and saw a horse and a man.

The man raised his wand and a red light shot from the direction and hit Remus. But there was no pain, as he expected, but instead Remus felt airy inside, like all his problems have been lifted from his mind.

Remus was beginning to enjoy this new sensation, the feeling of freedom, to have no worries. His happy moment barely lasted a full minute; when all of the sudden he heard screaming, painful screaming.

"Remus! Please help me!"

Remus snapped out of his dazed state and looked around to see who was screaming for help. Something about the voice was achingly familiar. But before Remus could figure out who it was he heard another painful scream, a man cry out.

"HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Remus realized that it was his parents screaming. Then he heard three familiar voices scream his name. Remus looked around wildly to see his friends that were howling in agony.

"What—is—going—on?" Remus yelled, scrambling around to see where the screaming was coming from. And though there was no one, the screaming seemed everywhere, echoing in his head.

The screaming intensified the longer it continued; it was as if someone was pounding a loud hammer in his head that erupted a new person's screams of agony in his head until he thought it would split open. Clutching his head and groaning, Remus doubled over, screwing his eyes shut, trying desperately to block out the terrible agony.

"Nooooo," Remus moaned, shouting himself hoarse as his hands were over his head.

"HELP ME!"

"DON'T LEAVE!"

"PLEASE! PLEASE!"

"DON'T GO!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE!"

"PLEASE HELP!"

The screaming grew louder and Remus was shaking, trying everything he could to block out the pain, the cries of agony. Remus started running away but no matter how much he ran the voices followed.

"PLEASE HELP!"

Remus saw the glowing light of his patronus and ran toward it, his blue eyes hardened into gold as he whipped around in every direction, trying to make sense of everything. His golden eyes were rolling wildly as he felt like he was going through his transformation as everything turned blurry. He could hear his parents, his cousin, his friends, everyone close to him screaming his name as if they were all trapped in a torture chamber.

Remus swore he saw his three friends but he couldn't tell through the blindness the screaming inside his head was giving him. The closer the three figures came running towards him the screaming grew louder until it forced him to stop running towards his aid. Remus slowly sank to his knees, bellowing at the top of his lungs as he tried shouting over the wails.

"NOOOO!" Remus moaned and started convulsing. "Noooo!"

Remus covered his ears with his hand as he let out a hoarse cry, repeating "no" as he was forced to listen to the tortured wails of agony that ripped his heart into pieces.

"NOOOOOO!" Remus shouted over the noise. "Noo, noooo, nooo!"

Then peaceful silence.


	17. Chapter XVIII: The Kitchen's Secret

**Just remember that I do not own Harry Potter.**

"REMUS! Remus! You're all right!"

Remus gasped and jumped up. The screams still echoed in his head. But now he was in the hospital wing with his three friends surrounding unharmed.

"Are—are you hurt?" Remus rasped, looking at his friends with weariness coming off him in waves.

"No," James said with a concern look in his eyes, "we found you laying the snow screaming at no one. You were covering your head like you were under an aerial attack or something. When you stopped, you fell to the ground and that's when we saw the arrow in your shoulder."

"We were so afraid you were dead because you were not moving. We lost track of you when you ran from the Great Hall. We spotted you running outside but we lost you in the dark. And then we saw your patronus. It was fading fast and when we saw you collapse, your wolf patronus faded," Sirius continued in a flurry, sitting down next to Remus and embracing him in a brotherly hug.

"I'm just glad that wolf found us. Students at first tried to attack it but was lucky James was there to stop them because it was fading fast and its message thing was very blurred," Peter said last.

"Lucky Professor Dumbledore taught me that," Remus whispered hoarsely and groaned as he clutched his head that felt like there was a herd of stampeding animals.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion.

Remus groaned and rubbed his eyes wearily as he forced himself to remember.

"Someone was in the Forbidden Forest. I dunno who it was—but they cursed me—a curse that feels nice at first so you don't fight against it but after a while you hear the tortured screams of the ones you care about—and by then it's too late to break free of the curse."

"Who'd you hear?" James asked curiously, his eyebrows raised ever so slightly.

"My parents," Remus said slowly as if mentioning his parents were draining him emotionally, "my cousin and of course—you three."

"You heard us? I understand your family and everything but—but us?" Sirius asked, for once bewildered.

"Yeah," Remus said with a nod, "you three. I dunno why that comes as a surprise."

Madam Pomfrey, who barked something that they could not understand, shoved past Remus's friends and slammed a bottle of boiling purple liquid onto the bedside table to his left.

"Er—is is suppose to . . . boil?" Remus asked uncertainly, eyeing the potion with wariness.

"Yes! I think I know my remedies, Lupin—seeing as I have been healing students for over a decade now. So drink if you want to feel better," Madam Pomfrey said and thrust a small glass of the liquid in Remus's hands and watched him as he only stared at it.

"Drink if you want to feel better," Madam Pomfrey repeated sternly.

Remus drank the whole glass in one sip and nearly spit it back out the moment it reached his lips.

"Oi! That tasted bad," Remus spluttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and grimacing. Despite his dislike of the potion he was already starting to feel the affects of the potion; new energy started seeping back in, making him less weary.

"Now about that broken ankle—why were you running on it?"

"I had no idea it was broken," Remus answered truthfully and looked down as his ankle that was in a boot, "I thought it was just—er—I dunno—a little bruised."

Madam Pomfrey sent Remus a disapproving look as she tutted to herself, muttering about how students never are careful anymore. Remus suppressed his laughter as he refused to make eye contact with his friends who were snickering too.

"Be careful and do not stress that ankle anymore," Madam Pomfrey snapped and pointed at his ankle, "if you come back in here with that ankle injury worse, I will be more than angry."

"Understood," Remus said and disguised his laughter by coughing a few times before waving goodbye, glad to be released from the hospital wing at last. Now that they were farther away from the oak doors, his friends turned to one another, each wearing a grin.

"We still have nearly a week of vacation left," James said and raised his eyebrows, "what do you lot want to do?"

"Fly?" Sirius asked and flashed his friends a mischievous glance.

"The broomsticks are liked away in the cabinet," Remus pointed out fairly, shifting his weight from leg to leg.

"We still have ours that we smuggled in," James argued which Remus could not disagree with.

Peter, who was sitting on the bench, sat up a little and looked around; the other three came over to join him on the bench, each taking their own sides as they let silence stretch over them.

"How would we get past the professors?" Peter asked after that long stretch of nothing but the occasional voice to students in the halls.

"Dunno," James said and added in a joking tone, "one or two of us'll distract the teachers and the others break for it."

Sirius, Peter, and Remus fell silent as if they were speaking telepathically to one another in their minds. James looked from Sirius to Remus to Peter in confusion as they all sat in silence.

"What?" James asked, shrugging. "I was joking—I know it wasn't a good idea—"

"No; it was brilliant actually," Remus interjected and looked at his watch, "I think Sirius and I will go and distract the professors—I trust both of you know where our brooms are—in the dormitory. We'll meet up at the pitch."

"Are you serious?" James asked incredulously.

"No, I'm Sirius," Sirius joked and was roughly shoved from the bench.

"That's the worst pun I've ever heard—move prat, let's go," Remus muttered and he and Sirius headed around the corner and out of sight while James and Peter made their way to the Gryffindor common room.

Sirius and Remus walked in silence for less than a minute until the Black heir broke it.

"Remus Lupin is breaking the rules—this is unheard of," Sirius said and flashed his friend a cheeky grin as Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't get used to it," Remus said firmly as they rounded a corner, "I'm not doing anything this stupid again."

"And that's where I'll disagree," Sirius said with an air of laughter, "you're stuck with us, mate. You are bound to get pulled into a load of our pranks over these next several years."

Remus groaned and pulled out his wand, he searched his memory for a spell and the first thing that came to mind was the red sparks charm. He gripped his wand and looked around the corner to see if anyone was around. Though he did not expect to see anyone, he was genuinely surprised to see the one ghost he had never spoken too; it was Bloody Baron.

"Get a move on," Sirius hissed in his ear.

Remus wanted to confront his concerns about Bloody Baron being right there when they were going to send off red sparks but he earned a sharp nudge in the ribs from Sirius; raising his wand and aiming down the hall he said "_periculum_" and watched as red sparks shot from the end of his wand and exploded like fireworks.

"Nice work," Sirius said and clapped him on the back, "let's go to a different hall or something—"

James and Peter were sneaking about the castle, each holding two brooms as they smuggled four of them outside. They managed to make it to the greenhouses but as soon as they were about to round the corner, Professor Slughorn cleared his throat, evidently trying to make himself noticed.

James turned around and thrust the brooms into Peter's hands and shoved him around the corner before the Head of the Slytherin house saw him. With a grunt, Peter tripped and fell to the ground but lay there, not daring to move.

"Hello Professor," James said casually and strode over to him, "I fancied a walk to Hagrid's Hut to talk."

"Very well Potter, very well," Professor Slughorn said slowly but took a step towards James, "but Hagrid's not home at the moment, surely you noticed after all that time dining in the Great Hall."

Peter listened hard as James had made his error but to his surprise, the Potter heir continued to talk smoothly as though he really wasn't doing any rule breaking.

My apologies sir," James said and started backing away, "I guess I'll be off then. I see no reason to stick around any longer."

"W-wait," Professor Slughorn said and blinked in confusion, "where are you going?"

"I still fancied a walk sir," James said and gave the professor the smallest of bows before walking off again, nudging Peter with his foot in a silent message. Peter started to his feet but James whispered "crawl" under his breath until they were far enough from him.

When they could no longer see him, they broke out into a sprint, Peter stopped first and looked back. James slowed down and the two burst out laughing as they fought to catch their breath.

"I can't believe that you got away with that," Peter commented earnestly, "for a minute I thought he had you. You're a curiously good liar and I dunno if that's such a good thing."

"Don't worry," James with an hint of arrogance, "I know what I'm doing."

The two climbed onto their brooms and kicked off from the ground, whooping with joy as they soared over the trees. Their brooms hummed underneath their fingers as if it was happy to be in the air as well.

"Watch this!" James said and he flew higher. Waving, James spiraled down while twisting in the air. Peter watched with awe as the Potter heir was twisting dangerously towards the ground but he pulled straight up before crashing to the ground and did a backward flip on his broom.

"You've got to try out for Quidditch, mate," Sirius said as he and Remus walked towards them from the ground, "I'm going for Beater."

"I'm going to Seeker," James said proudly and motioned for them to come up. And Remus had no doubts that James would be their Gryffindor Seeker.

"You'd make a fair Seeker," Remus said and joined them in the air.

"Thanks," James said and cleaned off his glasses.

Peter made room for Sirius and the group of four were sitting nonchalantly on their brooms, talking about whatever came to their mind.

"Shall we race?" James asked, looking past Remus's shoulder and out to the Pitch.

"No fair! Your broom is so much better than mine!" Peter said, eyeing the brooms.

"True. We'll switch off—" James began but stopped in mid sentence as if he was confused on what he had just said.

"Peter you can ride mine for the race then we'll switch out," Remus said.

Suspended in midair, Remus and Peter switched brooms (not one of Remus's smartest ideas) and watched as the three lined up next to each other.

"Now the object is to reach the end of the field first," Remus announced.

When Remus raised his hand, the three zoomed off in a blue of colors. Peter was doing fairly good, keeping up with the other two. But as soon as Peter titled his broom the slightest, he braked and Sirius pulled ahead, however, James was pulling ahead of Sirius.

Remus, who was already down there waiting, saw James make a perfect swan dive to add to his performance and reached the end first, followed by Sirius, then Peter.

"Good flying," Remus said to the three as soon as they came into hearing distance.

Remus and Peter grabbed each other's brooms, swinging one leg over their own and transferring ever so slowly as to make sure they would not fall. Finally, James, Sirius, and Remus were lined up, whilst Peter faced them.

"Now this time, do three laps around this field and when you reach the opposite end of the Pitch of me, be the first to fly to the end where I am."

Peter flew back to the other side on his broom. Raising his hand, James, Remus, and Sirius lit from the other side and were circling the field in a tense race, neck and neck with each other.

"Much more difficult competition then Peter," Sirius said to Remus as they continued to fly side by side.

Remus laughed and pulled straight upward. He feared of slipping off the back but he straightened out his broom and was now flying higher than the other two. James seemed to have sense this even though he didn't see and pulled up to race side by side with Remus.

"Sod off, James," Remus joked, "you are too good to compete with."

James laughed and Remus dived lower, past Sirius and was flying beneath both of them, watching as the stands turned to a blur of brown. James was pulling ahead next to Sirius.

Three laps were done and when they reached the middle of the opposite field of Peter the three veered to the right and flew straight toward their friend. Remus wobbled slightly on the turn but regained his composure.

James was still in the lead but Remus and Sirius were right behind him. But, of course, James reached their first followed by Sirius, then Remus who followed quickly after Sirius.

"Good work," Peter said as they all hovered in midair facing each other.

"Thanks," James said cleaning his glasses lens on his shirt again.

"Is it just me or are you guys hungry?" Sirius asked, after a brief moment of silence.

"It's just you, mate. You're always hungry," Remus joked but had to admit to himself that he was hungry as well. "You eat so much yet you manage to stay so skinny."

Sirius smirked. "It's a specialty."

Remus rolled his eyes at the Black heir and folded his arms across his chest, trying to make his tone sound arrogant.

"If you really want to know, I found a way to get in the kitchen."

All three heads immediately snapped into Remus's direction as soon as the statement came from Remus's mouth.

"You found something and you didn't tell us? You git!" James exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Remus who rolled his eyes.

"It's a recent discovery," the young werewolf said in his defense, "I can show you now and knowing you three you probably want to find out sooner than later. I don't see any reason not to I suppose."

Remus barely had any time finishing his sentence for James and Sirius were both zooming down to the ground. Remus sighed and he and Peter followed. The four touched the ground and went directly under the stands, weaving among the wooden beams until they stowed their brooms in up in a corner. After that they burst from the stands and printed back to Hogwarts.

"Why—must—we—sprint?" Peter panted, bending over and putting his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

"If it involves food, I'm running," Sirius said then turned eagerly to Remus, "hurry up! I want to see it!

"Fine," Remus said, clutching his sides that began to ache but started jogging as soon as they caught up with Sirius, "I'm coming."

Remus, who was in the lead, guided them to a portrait of a bowl of fruit. It stretched from the ceiling to the floor, it looked like an ordinary picture that was stationary. But Remus pulled out his wand and prodded the pear with it. The pear actually moved as soon as Remus poked it with his wand and the four waited as a green handle began forming.

"A wand is not required to do that but I do," Remus added, stowing away his wand and he led them inside.

James, Peter, and Sirius all gaped in awe at the sight. The kitchen was nothing what they expected, the portrait did not do it justice. But it was not the size of the kitchen nor was it the interior that caught their attention the most, it was what was _inside _the kitchen that amazed them. House elves, hundreds of them, were scurrying around preparing food, washing dishes, and cleaning the floors.

"Oi, house elves!" James said.

"Yeah, Professor Dumbledore must have hired them or something," Remus said standing next to James with his arms crossed, "I was just as surprised as you were. I had no idea house elves were making our food."

"Do they listen to you?" Sirius whispered for only his friends to hear.

"Yes, Sirius," Remus said with the slightest scoff, "they're house elves. They'll listen to your every plea."

Sirius looked thoughtful and then a mischievous look glinted in his gray eyes as his gaze turned to the scurrying creatures.

"Sirius?" Remus asked, catching on the Black heir's plan.

"I'm parched Remus," Sirius said dramatically and sighed loudly, "will someone get me a glass of water?"

Ten or twelve house elves dropped whatever they were doing and all rushed to get Sirius a glass of water. They rushed up to him holding glasses of water.

"Excellent!" Sirius said, grinning. He took one of the glasses and drained it. "Thanks!"

"Anything for the young master," the house elf squeaked and backed off with a low bow.

"Kreacher hates me! He only listens to me because I'm my mother's son," Sirius grumbled and made for his second glass of water, and upon draining it, took a third and finished it in a few ravenous sips.

"Can we ask for food?" James whispered to Remus who shrugged.

"If you must," Remus sighed then addressed the crowd, "could one of you make something for us? I dunno, anything really. And no one is to speak of our visit here."

There were chorused answers of "yes sir" and "of course, young master" and "sworn to secrecy". Four house elves bowed to The Marauders and started making food that Remus could not distinguish.

"I feel bad for making them work," Peter said quietly as he watched them scamper about the kitchen, reaching whatever they could in a matter of seconds.

"I do too but it looks like Professor Dumbledore is taking good care of them," James said watching the house elves as well with interest sparking in his hazel eyes. And in no time, there were plates of potatoes and pudding and steak and pasta. James eyed the food hungrily and took the large bowl of pudding.

"Oi, thanks!" James said and the four walked out with gracious nods.

"Brilliant!" James said once they were out of the kitchen, they had no trouble sneaking back to the Gryffindor common room; they were glad to find it empty but they did not stop there. Instead, they hiked back up to the first year boys' dormitory and jumped on their beds, each holding a bowl of food. The Marauders joked and laughed together and for once, Remus let go of his troubles and felt a hundred years younger.


	18. Chapter XIX: Day of Doing Nothing

The Marauders were lounging in the common room, the last day of vacation for them before the students returned. Sirius and Peter were playing a game of Exploding Snaps while Remus was reading a book and James prodding Remus.

"I'm so bored, Remus!" James whined and fell back dramatically.

"What am I suppose to do about that?" Remus said slamming his book shut and fixing James with a glare, "stop bloody poking me unless you want your fingers hexed together."

"Not until we do something!" James replied and sat back on his heels.

"Bugger off, Peter! That's the third game you've won! Out of three!" Sirius said, breaking the conversation between James and Remus. The Black heir groaned loudly and threw his cards on the floor making an explosion.

"James," Remus said and tucked his book under his arm and swinging his feet off the couch, "if you don't stop poking me, you will be missing your fingers by tonight."

James grinned like madman as he looked at Remus in amusement. "Is that a threat?"

"Consider taking it as one," Remus muttered and slapped James's hand away with his book.

"Ouch!" James said retaliating and eyed the book with great dislike, "how big is that book?"

"Big enough," Remus said with a smirk and lifted his head, " around eight hundred pages."

"Wow, Remus," James said, staring at the book, "that's such a waste of time. I can't believe you're actually taking time to _read_ that book."

"Reading's good for you James," Remus said as if his statement settled the dispute, "but how would you know? Maybe you should try it sometime."

"ME READ? For fun?" James said appalled and loudly and looked absolutely revolted.

"True," Remus muttered and rolled his eyes.

James resumed to poking Remus, Remus ignoring him, Sirius and Peter started a game of Wizards Chess. Only a few "peaceful" moments of silence stretched, undisturbed, until Remus broke the silence again.

"Sod off, James!" Remus said after a few minutes have passed. "I'm trying to read and it's hard when someone is constantly poking you!"

"You're ignoring me, how else will I get your attention?" James asked in an innocent voice and looked at Remus with a hidden grin.

"I dunno," Remus said, "go poke Sirius or someone other than me!"

James laughed and shoved Remus off the couch, laughing wildly as he watched the young werewolf fall to the ground ungraciously with a thud.

"JAMES!" Remus shouted and glared at the laughing boy.

"REMUS!" James imitated, laughing even harder as Remus raised his eyebrow and folding his arms across his chest.

Remus shoved James to the floor and pinned him down with his legs and held his arm against James's throat, cutting his ability to speak.

"Get off, prat!" James puffed and tried to throw the boy off but doing it without the use of his arms made it a challenge.

"No. Now you know how annoying you can be," Remus said still pinning James with more of a pronounced smirk.

The messy haired boy brought up his knee and connected it with Remus's ribs and send him sprawling on the floor next to him. Before Remus could regain his composure, James was on his knees. Remus only had time to look up before James had shoved him to the floor, with James pinning _him _down with his knees. Remus wheezed as James's right leg was on his chest..

"Yeah?" James asked and raised his eyebrow in a superior kind of way.

"James," Remus snapped from below and tried freeing his arm, "get off me!"

"Now I bet you wish I was back to poking you," James said with a cheeky grin.

Remus did his best to attempt a glare but James was on his oxygen supply.

"James, I can barely breathe," Remus said weakly and started struggling under James again as he inhaled deeply.

James shifted his weight so his knees pinned Remus's left arm but he wriggled his right arm from James and attempted to shove him off.

"Nice try," James laughed as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Oi," Remus said, his arm was throbbing now, "get off my arm, I can't feel it—you are cutting off the circulation."

"Would they have to amputate it?" Peter asked from his chess game though looking indifferently.

"Now you pay attention," Remus muttered sarcastically and looked over at Peter, "think you can help me?"

Sirius looked up and burst out laughing, not even caring that Peter's knight was squishing his pawn on the board, the knight was now dragging off Sirius's pawn that was still squirming but as soon as the knight threw it off the board, the pawn fell still.

"Sirius," Remus said and rolled his eyes the best he could, "stop laughing, you prat, and get him off me."

Sirius took his time to sober up and drag James off Remus.

"I see you're taking Remus's side," James said standing up and straightened his robes. Remus got to his feet (with the help of Peter) and dusted himself off defiantly, glowering deeply at James who waved at him heartily.

"This is war," Remus snarled, narrowing his eyes at James. James laughed in amusement and he and Remus were doing their best to shove the other one down.

"I swear," Remus said as James nearly wiped his feet from under him, "if I lose there goes my dignity."

"I'm a harder opponent then you give me credit for, Remus," James said with an amused tone, "perhaps you'd like to find out?"

"I already have," Remus said with an air of laughter and kicked James's feet out from under him. James exclaimed as he fell to the floor and landed on his side. Remus had barely enough time to gloat before James swung out his foot and forced Remus's legs to buckle underneath him as he fell.

"I am victorious!" James hollered and sprang to his feet, and planted his foot on Remus's stomach.

"I'm calling it!" Remus said and tried dragging James's foot off his stomach by the ankle. "Get off my stomach!"

James smirked victoriously and removed his foot but not bothering to help Remus up which would be more than he would have expected anyway. Once the fighting match was over, Sirius sighed loudly as he lost one of his rook's to Peter's queen.

"I'm going back to reading," Remus said and sent a glare at James before opening his book and burying himself in it.

"I don't think that boy does anything but read!" Sirius said. "Damn you Peter!"

Sirius glowered at Peter who shrugged nonchalantly, he stowed the chess board away and was cleaning up the mess. James, who had joined them, was patting Sirius on the back while Peter tried to disguise his smug look.

"You win every game," Sirius grumbled but his gray eyes danced with amusement. Peter shrugged again and got to his feet; he flopped back on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

"What do you think about first year so far?" James asked, he was lounging in the armchair with his back resting against one end and his legs dangled off the other arm.

Remus joined them and sat down on the other chair with his book forgotten on the desk behind them. Sirius sat up from the floor and looked at James with scrutinizing eyes that made James raise his eyebrow skeptically.

"What?"

"Peculiar question," Sirius admitted but took the time to answer, "I think this year has been a load better with you guys."

"I can vouch for that," Peter agreed from the couch and sighed contently, "we've been through some pretty wild stuff for a couple of simple first years, eh?"

"I think the word 'adventure' would fit this year," Remus answered and grinned, "but let's pace ourselves, shall we? We have seven years here."

"Seven years to drive the professors here, mad!" Sirius said with his usual bark-like laugh that James, Peter, and Remus heard very often.

"I do too," Peter chimed in and sat up on the couch.

James grinned mischievously. "Just remember—Evans is in the same house as us. Maybe she'll go for me."

"Some chance, eh?" Remus joked and sent a smirk to James who scowled.

"How much do you want to bet she's going to say yes before seventh year?" James asked Remus with an air of arrogance to his tone.

"I dunno," Remus said grinning, "knowing you James, you will eventually get her to say yes but for now, I think she hates your guts."

"I can change that," James said and raised his eyebrows at the young werewolf.

"Can you imagine that our first year is almost half over?" Sirius asked, changing the subject and laying back down.

"It's hard to believe," Peter agreed wholeheartedly, "this year seemed to go by fast."

"Don't worry, Peter," Remus said, "we still have six years after this one of each other. And who knows, perhaps we'll be friends when we graduate."

"We better be friends!" James said looking at Sirius, Peter, and Remus.

"Did you hear about that family Voldemort wiped out? Two children and a single mother," Sirius asked nonchalantly.

This subject took Remus by surprise.

"I heard about it in the Daily Prophet. That Voldemort is crazy!" James said and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Who the hell is he anyway? He apparently is just _now_ posing a threat? Just try to fathom that! He's killed at least three families already!" Sirius said angrily and suddenly darkened his look. "We all know who he'll attract."

"I think we all knlw that answer," Remus said darkly, "people are saying he'll rise to power."

Sirius, Peter, and James all looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Remus sighed and suddenly looked years older, "some of his followers—they call themselves Death Eaters—their lot killed my mum. Voldemort has been recruiting heavily in hopes of forming the one thing a leader needs."

"This is crazy," Peter said shaking his head, "we barely know anything about him and suddenly out of nowhere he is posing threats so baf the Minister is getting involved?"

"It takes them a while to see a threat when someone dies right in front of them," James said and shook his head. "Wonder who's going with him."

"My parents . . ." Sirius trailed off.

"What about them?" James asked, turning his attention to his friend.

"My family'll be the first ones to agree, along with all the other pureblood manias likr my dear old mum," Sirius said miserably, and looked around the room, "don't hate me—I never agreed to their ridiculousness."

"Of course you don't," Remus said reassuringly, "you've proven that already."

"I still feel like there's a darkness I got from them that I can't escape," Sirius said quickly as if he did not want them to hear him properly.

"But you've proven yourself against your family," Peter said and smiled encouragingly.

"How?"

"You're in Gryffindor, Sirius. You, yourself, said that all your family has been in Slytherin. Well, you definitely proved that you're not one of them," Peter said, the wisest thing he ever said.

"Peter's right, Sirius," James said.

Sirius looked a little more convinced yet still doubtful.

"Right then," Remus said suddenly, getting up from his chair and lookimg about the common room, "I'll see you lot later. I've got a few things I must do."


	19. Chapter XX: Valentine's Day

Remus lay on his bed reading his book very contently until several heavy boxes of chocolate landed on Remus, knocking the breath out of him and the book out of his hands.

Remus glared up at the one who threw the chocolate at him and wasn't surprised when he saw James and Sirius at the foot of his bed with Peter a little ways off.

"What was that for?" Remus asked sitting up and massaging his sore ribs.

"Happy Valentine's Day," James said, grinning like a madman.

"You guys take Valentine's Day seriously?" Remus asked, looking from Siriuss to Peter to James with surveying eyes.

"Oi! Who doesn't?" Sirius asked in surprise, raising his eyebrows.

"I think it's a ridiculous holiday," Remus said with a shrug and bent over his bed to retrieve his fallen book.

Sirius and James gasped dramatically making Remus roll his eyes. The first year scoffed to himself and resumed looking for the page.

"How can you hate Valentine's Day? How could such words ever come from your mouth, Remy?" James asked and sat down with a dramatic flare.

"What's the point of Valentine's Day? All it really does is make girl ignorant over you," Remus said and looked at his friends with his eyebrow raised, "and make all the single people out there feel bad about it when there's noting wrong with being single."

"Major thing right there, Remy," Sirius saidand pointed his finger at him. "GIRLS SWOON OVER YOU."

"So?"

James and Sirius exchanged glances; as if they could read one another's mind, Sirius ran over to his bed and James continued on with his rant as casually as he could.

"Valentines Day is a magical holiday that makes girls drown you in cards and chocolate," James explained and grinned, "girls become obsessed over you; and you—" James said poking Remus, "—can bathe in the nonstop attention."

Remus pulled a disgusted look, "I for one do not want girls ''obsessing', which you like to call it, over me anyway—that sounds rather intimidating—especially when girls are _already _intimidating. Secondly, I most certainly do not want to be _bathed _attention. Thirdly and lastly, I just think it's a pointless holiday that makes everyone ignorant and heartbroken."

"Wow Remy, I don't think I've heard you rant your opinion that much ever," James said, and could not help hlbut look at Remus with surprise.

Remus rolled his eyes and was about to say something but was abruptly tackled to the ground and bound together by a rope.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Remus asked struggling against his bonds. His legs and wrists were tied together—all done by Sirius.

James gave Sirius a high-five.

"By the end of today, we will make sure you love Valentine's Day," James said.

"Peter, help!" Remus said.

"Nope," Sirius said, "he's on our side."

Remus stopped struggling against the ropes and glared at Peter.

"Four against one? That hardly seems fair," Remus muttered.

"Now we are going to release you," James said, "promise not to kill us?"

"For what? Tying me up or something you're going to do in the near future? Because just remember, you lot, if you know you'll regret doing it—don't do it at all."

James and Sirius just grinned while Peter waved innocently. They released Remus and stood by the portrait door, evidently waiting. Remus grumbled the entire time as he rose to his feet. He rubbed his wrists and ankles where the rope had cut in.

"Down to the Great Hall for breakfast!" Sirius cheered and bolted out the common room. Remus and Peter took their time walking down.

"You took their side?" Remus asked Peter as the two walked at a slower pace than James and Sirius.

Peter shrugged. "Even I don't mind Valentine's Day. It's not _that_ bad of a holiday."

Remus raisedhis eyebrow at Peter who shrugged but grinned. He and Peter walked into the Great Hall to see Sirius and James smirking but trying to mask their smug looks.

"What now?" Remus groaned, afraid to hear the answer.

"What ever do you mean?" James asked in an innocent tone pulling a confused epxression. But in spite of that, he failed to hide the mischief in his hazel eyes.

"I know you three did something," Remus said eyeing his friends suspiciously and surveying the room as if he expected something to emerge.

"Way to assume the worst out of us," Sirius grumbled.

"Sorry Sirius, old habits and all," Remus said with a very pronounced smirk.

As they sat down, James, Sirius, and Peter all pulled out their wands underneath the table. One after another—red, pink, and white fireworks burst into the air. Students craned their necks to watch the impressive display.

Remus immediately glared at his friends clutching the apple he was eating and realizing what'll happen next.

"I'm going to kill you guys."

And not a moment after Remus had said that, The Marauders saw was the mixed expression each one was wearing before completely engulfed in fireworks.

When the smoke had finally ceased and risen, three out of the four now had a pink cloud hovering above their head raining sparkles and the occasional mist of heavily scented girls perfume.

"Why the hell did this backfire!" James roared.

But Remus burst out laughing.

"It's a simple spell, really," Remus said between his laughter, "I just said 'reversa'. Though it doesn't work for all spells."

"You are such a prat, Remus Lupin! You are!" James growled and (very roughly) shoved Remus off the bench and onto the floor, pinning him with his foot and knee.

"Get off!" Remus groaned as James's knee was digging painfully in his stomach. Instead, James increased the pressure on Remus and remained there until his legs buckled from underneath him (courteousy to Remus).

"We're going to be late for Herbology," Remus wheezed as he caught his breath, glaring at James as he got to his feet.

"Fine, future-Prefect-Remy," James said and the other three shoved the rest of the food in their mouths, took a handful of mints (each) from the small bowl and collected their things, striding out of the Great Hall. As the four walked to Herbology, Remus did his best to brush off the sparkles from James and the repulsive perfume.

"Oi! You are dousing me with your perfume and sparkles, mate!" Remus said and this time, he did not bother to try and hide his triumphant smirk.

But before James, Sirius, or Peter could say anythig on that matter, they were cut off when Remus turned for he felt a tap on his shoulder. He came face to face with Ella Froyt, a Ravenclaw first year smiling shyly at him.

"Hi Remus," she said quietly and held out her hand which held a red and pink card, "here—Happy Valentine's Day, Remus."

"Thanks, Ella—that is really nice of you," Remus said, his smile faltered as he shifted his feet uncomfortably.

She flicked back her mane of black hair and walked off quickly without another word in which Remus was grateful for.

"Got yourself an admirer, I see. And here, the first one to receive a card out of the four of us happens to be the one that hates Valentine's Day," Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows. Mischief danced in the silver eyes.

Remus blushed furiously as he attempted to glare at Sirius. "No. Not with Ella and I can tell you that much for sure and with certainty."

"Why? What's wrong with her?" James asked, raising his eyebrow at his friend who fumbled with his book bag's strap.

"I don't date," Remus said flatly and looked ahead.

_For more reasons than you know_, Remus thought to himself and was glad none of his friends could perform legilimens successfully.

He quickened his pace as he walked to Herbology. Professor Sprout scowled deeply at the three boys who walked in with sparkles everywhere.

"What happened?"

"Spell gone wrong," James mumbled, looking up at the pink cloud with every sign of great dislike, Remhs had a hard time hiding his laughter.

_This is your fault. I blame you, mate_, Sirius mouthed to Remus who raised his eyebrows at him the entire time.

_What can I say,_ Remus mouthed back with a shrug and a very pronounced smirk.

"That cloud is annoying, boys. How long is that going to be there?" Professor Sprout said exasperatedly.

"Until it wears off," James said then added, "unfortunately. Don't worry, Professor, I bet it's more annoying to us than you."

"Well, because with or without your little cloud, you will perform this activity flawlessly."

"We'll certainly try, Professor," James said and hurried away.

By the time class was over they managed to do the class activity almost flawlessly in spite of James, Sirius, and Peter's sneezing from the perfume.

"You're getting your ridiculous sparkles on me," Remus complained and brushed them off his shoulder pointedly.

"Bugger off, Remy, you're the one whose suppose to be doused in sparkles—not us!" James grumbled ad glared gloomily at the pink cloud that hovered mockingly over his head.

"Oh poor Ickle James Potter! That's what you get for trying to prank me," Remus said with the slightest air of arrogance.

"Nothing gets by you!" Sirius said brushing off his robes and at the same time squashing his plant's leaves, making it tremble.

"Oi! Remus!"

Remus turned with a slightly annoyed look but it melted when he saw Arieta Gallon, a first year Hufflepuff, stride up to him.

"Here," she said giving him a card and a box of chocolate. Remus thought it'd be cool to be showered with girls like James and Sirius were already today but decided that he'd rather not.

"Er—right—thanks, Arieta," Remus said awkwardly, "that's really nice of you."

Arieta, however, glared at the card sticking from Remus's book bag.

"Oi—and who is this from?" Arieta asked hotly as she snatched the card from his bag.

"From Ella Froyt—who is just a friend," Remus answered.

"What's going on between you and her?" Arieta demanded.

"Nothing is going on between Ella and I—like I said before, we are just friends," Remus explained calmly though he could feel the heat rise in his face.

Arieta seems to relax. "Are you busy this afternoon? Do you want to meet me in the library?"

"No," Remus said instantly then cleared his throat. "I—er—I mean I wish I could but no—I can't. I have somewhere to be."

Arieta looked a little fallen but she shrugged. "Then some other time."

"Sure," Remus said and tried to make his tone sound bright.

_Nope_, Remus thought.

He watched Arieta walk away with his with insides threatening to shrivel up into a pile at the bottom of his stomach and he wished he was invisible on every Valentine's Day.

"Rude much?" James asked once Arieta had turned back to her own plant.

"What?" Remus muttered and poked his quivering plant with his wand. It shot out a couple of thorns. Remus managed to fling up his hand in time to protect his face but his gloves were now covered in thorns that were starting to prick his palms.

Remus wonced as he plucked out each one. James, who was busy trying to find something he apparently dropped in the soil took time to reply.

"I can tell she likes you," he said finally.

"There is no way I'm ever going to be I interested in her. Hark who's talking—you turn down every girl who asks you."

"True," James said swinging his arm around Remus's shoulder. The entire class was now focused on wrestling with their ill tempered plants.

"Ickle me little Remy-kiddy!" Sirius cooed once he got wind of what Remus and Ella Froyt were talking about.

"What?" Remus asked, though a little absentmindedly.

"Remy-kiddy has a crush on Ella and Arieta. Look at you—you have girls lined up and waiting for you. Aren't you lucky."

Remus stopped in the middle of the empty corridor not even noticing the fact that they were missing class.

"Ickle me, little Siri-diddydons," Remus said nastily, "egoistic me, love watching girls fall to my feet."

James burst out laughing in his way of picking sides.

"Poor little Jamesy-kins, can't even get Evans to date him," Sirius said in mock sympathy and sighed dramatically.

"I dare you to call me that again," James snarled pointing his wand at Remus who held up his own wand. "Rem-kiddy."

"I didn't even call you that! It was Siri-diddydons and you have nerve to call me that," Remus growled as he aimed his wand at James.

"Call me that one more time Remy-kiddy," Sirius said and added gia own wand to the fray, "and you're a dead man."

Now the three pointed their wands at each other, while Peter debated whether going to class or watching his crazy friends. Remus had his wand pointed and Sirius who targeted James who aimed his was like a sword at Remus.

Without warning lights burst from the end of their wands, firing jinxes and hexes at one another. Light bounced off the walls and flung themselves anywhere they could hit again.

By the time they were out of breath, Remus's, usually blue eyes, had now sinister cat eyes and fangs for teeth. James was sporting the lagest rainbow patterened—everything. His robes, hair, and eyes were flashing the colors of the rainbow. And Sirius's beloved hair had gone a bright shade of pink.

"What have you done?" Remus screeched pointing an accusing finger at his two friends.

"You look so creepy!" James said between gasps of air, pointing visibly at Remus and Sirius, both, who scowled deeply and opened their mouths to argue.

"Yeah!" Remus snapped and scoffed airily, "don't flatter yourself, mate!"

And without further ado, the three boys were burying their faces in their robe's sleeves and trying to get to the closest lavatory.

"I wish I could draw a picture of this or something," Peter said laughing as they all walked at a brisk manner. James, Sirius, and Remus all glared at him.

The three hiked to the mirror in the lavatory to see the damage that was done and all stared in shock for a few moments.

"MY HAIR!" Sirius bellowed, he pointed to his hair, "fix it."

"Not until you fix my eyes and teeth!" Remus snapped and glared accusingly at Sirius who was too busy exaimining his hair.

"And someone will fix my rainbow colored—er—self!" James growled, looking down aat his flashing self, he was a lovely shade of blue.

Once the boys had finally stopped aruging, they managed to fixed themselves and they stormed out of the bathroom only for Remus to realize—

"We missed Transfiguration!" Remus groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Cheer up, Remy," James said wiping off the sparkles, "maybe she didn't even notice our disappearance."

"Unlikely," Remus snorted and looked at the sky that was bright, giving promising weather of warmth and sun.

James, Sirius, and Peter broke into a coughing for after their little cloud sprayed out more perfume mist.

"I really am going to get revenge on you," Sirius muttered once his pink cloud was done spraying perfume.

"You shouldn't have tried and pulled that prank on me and you wouldn't be covered in perfume and sparkles," Remus said holding back his laughter. "I thought we went over this."

They all went to the Great Hall but found Professor McGonagall was standing with her hands on her hips and a stern glare.

"Where were you four boys?"

Everyone in the Great Hall turned to see what was happening.

"The better question is—where were we not?" James asked, smiling up at her.

"Not on my classroom!" Professor McGonagall said loudly.

"Perhaps we were just hidden from your sight," Sirius said calmly.

Professor McGonagall sighed exasperatedly. "What will I do with you boys?"

"It's okay Minnie," Sirius said and raised his eyebrows at her, "you still have six and a half more years with us!"

Professor McGonagall looked horrid at the fact. "You four will be the death of me someday. If you miss my class again, I will give you detention for a month."

"Understood, Professor Minnie!" James said saluting to her before running past.

Remus did his best to avoid Professor McGonagall's intimidating glare.

"I can't BELIEVE you called Professor McGonagall 'Minnie'! Do you want to be slaughtered?" Remus growled as soon as they were out of earshot, "I can't believe you got away with it!"

James laughed and shrugged.

"Still enjoying Valentine's Day, James?" Remus asked after the smallest and briefest moments of silence.

"Despite this bloody cloud that has been following me the entire day—yes! I have fan mail," James smiled gesturing toward his unusually large pile of cards of chocolate.

"I can't believe girls can get this stupid over a stupid holiday," Remus muttered though he eyed it suspiciously.

"Well you must know that not all girls are like that," a voice said.

"Is that really what you think, Remus?" another added.

Remus turned around to see Lily Evans and Alice Prewett looking at him questionably. Amusement lanced their tones and glintered in their eyes.

"Of course not," Remus said and smiled, "I don't think either of you girls are like that."

Lily and Alice smiled approvingly and Remus turned his attention back to James.

"Think you can help me with Evans? Think she'll go for me?" James asked, eyeing the redhead with great interest and even a little admiration.

"Dunno, mate—ever since the day you hexed Snape—and good, mind you—she is not really fond of you," Remus said and followed James's gaze to Lily.

"That greasy git deserved it," James snarled as he tore his eyes away from her.

"But you know Evans is friends with that 'greasy git'," Remus said with his eyebrow raised in a superior manner.

James frowned. "Well now what? It seems we reached an impass."

"So it would seem," Remus said and folded his arms across his chest, "lay off Snape for a but then maybe she'll come around."

"Lay off Snivellus? I could never," James said and looked dramatically at Remus and flashed him a grin.

"Then don't expect Evans to like you," Remus said biting into his apple, "besides, you have six and a half more years with her. You got plenty of time."

"You're right!" James said perking up at once, "and one day I'll get her to say yes to me."

"But for now," Remus said, "we're eleven. We don't need to worry about dating anyone quite yet."

James laughed and brushed off the sparkles.


	20. Chapter XXI: Voldemort's Crime

"No I still did not enjoy yesterday, but I have to say—this chocolate is good," Remus said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

The Marauders were lounging around—which was something the four was very good at—doing nothing but talking about whatever came to mind with ease. But unlike most students who hung inside, the boys were on the wooden bridge that led down to Hagrid's Hut. It overlooked the forest and held a beautiful view.

James grinned. "At least you like the chocolate."

"Oh come on!" Sirius said waving his hand dramatically, "practically ten girls threw cards and candy at you. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Nope," Remus said looking at one of the cards, "read this one."

James snatched it from his hand and read it out loud.

"Dear Remus,

I for one think you are an extremely bright person and kind to others. I think it's great how you help others when they're struggling. I've seen you work with Pettigrew during Potions class and find that you're really sweet. I would love to get to know you better.

Vanessa Cox."

"I think these cards are ridiculous," Remus said and scoffed in disbelief, "I still am not very fond of that holiday."

James and Sirius laughed while Peter nodded.l in understanding. But even Peter could not help but grin as he looked down at his own pile.

"All these letters are the same! They say the same thing!" Remus complained and tossed yet another one aside.

James raised his eyebrow and snatched two different letters from Remus's pile and read them out loud.

"Dear Remus,

I know I do not know you very well but I would love to get to know you more. It is just the fact that I cannot find you when you are not always with your friends. We should spend some time together.

Claire Hounder."

James picked up the other and read out loud.

"Dear Remus,

I adore the way you can answer any question flawlessly and I love your sarcasm. I really want to talk to you but I can't find the courage too. Out of your other friends, I admire you the most. I hope that we talk at least once and have a conversation that's not actually awkward.

Vitani Flit."

"i haven't even talked to Vitani Flit since the beginning of the train ride to Hogwarts! And we literally had a five worded conversation!" Remus said as James threw back the cards with a smug expression.

"Well, see? These cards don't say the same thing! They're completely different," James said, stuffing his face in more chocolate.

"Same difference," Remus muttered waving his hand dismissively.

James, Sirius, and Peter all laughed at Remus's nonchalance.

"I am just glad we don't have those damn clouds hovering above our heads that rained sparkles and sprayed perfume," Sirius mumbled and shot Remus a glare, "I think I lost a bit of my dignity there."

Remus threw Sirius, Peter, and James a smirk and proceeded to toss away all his letters though he kept all the chocolate and other candy and gifts.

"I don't want to go to class tomorrow!" James groaned as he recalled their Monday classes.

"I can't wait to see Professor Minnie's expression," Sirius laughed and flipped open a box of flavored beans, "she looked like she was going to blast our heads off!"

"You really had to provoke her, didn't you Sirius?" Remus said disapprovingly and frowned,"I don't think you should call Professor McGonagall 'Professor Minnie'. You'll just get her more mad if that's possible."

"Remy," Sirius said in an almost convincing serious tone, "your prefect-Remus is showing again."

James shook his head. "We can't have that now, can we?"

Peter however interjected his opinion.

"I don't think having Remus as a Prefect is all that bad. We have some advantage here if Remus does become a Prefect. I mean think about it, if he is, we won't get in as much trouble if it were someone else."

"True," Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Good call, Peter," James said.

As the four decided to relax in one of the bridges that overlooked the beautiful snow covered forest, they were beginning to feel the cold. The Marauders flared up the collars of their jackets and shoved their hands in the pockets of the jacket trying to stay warm.

"As m-much as I enjoy t-the view, I also like to keep the feeling in my fingers," Sirius chattered and wrapped his scarf tighter.

"It's nice," Remus said, "it's definitely warmer than it had been in a while. But what do you expect? It's the middle of February."

"No, you're immune to cold," Sirius pouted and folded his arms across his chest.

Not long after Sirius had finished his statement, Frank Longbottom came sprinting towards them with a copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

"What is it?" Remus asked concerned as he caught the first year's expression.

"You-Know-Who's on the move, they say! A murder has been committed eight miles from Dufftown!" Frank panted as if he had literally ran to the bridge just to deliver the news.

Remus read and reread the article and shook his head.

"This is terrible! I feel bad for the family who had to endure the pain from the loss," Remus said but faltered as the rest stopped to stare at him.

"I think once he rises in power, there's going to be a little chance of stopping him," Frank said fretfully, "I fear once he's gained enough power and followers, the wizarding population will, indeed, be purified."

"That's just it," Sirius said looking very solemn and for once serious, "Voldemort'll eventually succeed. It's something no one will be able to prevent alone. But together, maybe there's still a chance. You know, like a glimmer of hope still left."

The five sat in silence.

"What's making he so murderous?" Peter asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's Voldemort! He'll kill like it's nothing!" James said, waving his hand impatiently.

"But it is strange for it does not sound as if the Ministry is panicking," Sirius observed thoughtfully, looking at each of them in turn.

"Unless the Minister doesn't want to start anything," Peter pointed out fairly.

"Sooner or later—something will start—then what would the Ministry do then?" Remus asked, frowning slightly. "But I suppose I can see it both ways."

"Yeah—it's just that one side makes more sense than the other," Sirius scoffed, earning a peculiar expression from Remus.

James had barely enough time to ponder all this when Professor Flitwick and a professor he didn't recognize come walking up to them.

"What are you doing out here in the cold?" the professor asked.

Remus took a mental note of how short and pudgy the man was but how his kind eyes shimmered.

"Can think better out here," Frank grunted roughly and did not look at him.

The other four nodded their heads for silent support.

"Er—right then," the professor said, "I'm Professor Slughorn by the way."

He turned to Professor Flitwick.

"Children will be children."

And the pair walked off.

"I don't like him much," Frank muttered darkly glaring at Professor Slughorn's back.

"Why?" Remus asked curiously suddenly getting the feeling that he was intruding upon something confidential.

"Had a big disagreement. He and my mum had a row previously," Frank said tensely and looked down ar his hands, something Remus did often when he was in uncomfortable situations.

Remus decided that it'd be better to drop the subject.

"Listen Remus, you don't need to answer this, mate, but I know your dad died, right?" Frank asked nervously fumbling with the edges of the _Daily Prophet_.

"Yes," Remus answered inpredu, taking away the paper for Frank was absentmindedly ripping it, "I suggest you keep this article."

Frank flushed. "Right—there's been some talk about—oh! About your mother!"

James, Sirius, and Peter all looked fretfully at Remus to see his reaction but to their surprise, Remus remained as calm as ever.

"Such as?" he pressed mildly.

"Your mum died!" Frank blurted out and looked at Remus and let out a muffled apology.

Remus blinked then almost instantly recovered his composure.

"Oh," Remus said lightly, "who'd you hear that from?"

"Loads of people have been talking about it—for ages now. I don't know if their true or not," Frank said looking pleading at Remus.

"Well, yes," Remus said, trying his best to sound nonchalant, "she died."

"When?" Frank asked almost eagerly then looked apologetic once more.

"Er—Christmas," Remus answered with no hesitation.

"I'm proud of my parents but I'd be extremely proud if your parents were mine," Frank said earnestly.

Remus heaved a sigh and hauled himself to his feet looking years older; James had concerned written all over in his expression.

"Thanks."

Once the five took separate ways, James put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You're really brave, mate," James said in a hushed tone, "really, you're the bravest person I ever met. Even braver than my parents."

Thanks James," Remus said shooting him a grateful smile, "I just don't know if I want everyone to believe they're both dead quite yet."

James murmured sympathetically.

The four sat in the common room working on their Transfiguration essay that was due tomorrow (Remus, who had finished the day it was assigned, was lazily flicking his wand sending sparks everywhere).

Sirius and James were finishing their closing paragraph with their final thesis statement and shot to their feet.

"DONE!" Sirius declared.

Remus looked up from his magic and rolled his eyes. "So much for putting in that extra roll plof parchment. You said you would.

"Only of we didn't understand it," James disagreed, holding up his own essay and grinning.

"I think I'll be going to sleep now," Remus said getting up and stretching his cramping muscles, "see you lot later."

**Thank you for sticking with this story. I understand that it is not the best—I think it's fun to write these fanfictions and hope that you enjoy them too. Thank you for reading!**


	21. Chapter XXII: Remus Versus Snape

Remus sat under the beech tree with his friends on his left and right and above. He pondered the fact that he'd been lucky enough to escape March's full moon nearly unscathed, though having to deal with loads of bruises and minor cuts that Remus hid under his robes. And when James or Sirius tackled him, he felt every muscle shriek in protest and every bruise and cut get hit. Suppressing mutters of pain, Remus clamped his mouth shut for good measure.

Little did he know, James was scheming behind him back very silently. James wouldn't even tell Sirius and Peter until he's gotten all the facts straight. He decided that if he acted like he didn't notice Remus's disappearances, Remus would be less guarded.

Now they sat, the end of March drawing near, both taking a brief break from studying nonstop for exams. Yet Remus and Peter both had books based off their classes glued in front of their eyes.

Remus was finding it difficult to stay focused, though he managed to reel his mind from wandering and focused back in studies. Peter seemed lost in his book, sometimes making odd expressions when he got something or when he didn't understand something.

In a small matter of time, Remus found himself going back to the past few months. March had been full of boring classes, some pranks, some hexing and jinxing Snape (despite Remus's protests), the full moon, and James swooning over Evans.

April hasn't been much different. Go to class do homework sit and talk go to bed. That was their daily routine for April's month (with the exception of Remus preparing two months early for the upcoming exams).

"Oi! Remus!" Sirius shouted, grinning down at him.

Remus snapped his head at Sirius and stared blankly at him, evidently waiting for him to say something first.

"I called your name about four times, mate! Why are you acting so distant?" Sirius asked with a slight frown.

"I dunno," Remus said and glanced down at his book, "just stressing about exams, I bet."

Sirius gave him a skeptical look.

"I feel like you're lying."

"But I'm not," Remus said with a casual shrug; and much to Remus's utter disappointment he had mastered the skill of lying and had gotten very good at it.

Sirius shrugged it off and continued to throw down sticks he snapped off from branches and threw them at by passers catching them in surprise.

Remus, more than once, held up his hands and had to say "it wasn't me" when they would glare at him in mistake.

"Bugger off, Sirius!" Remus snapped when Sirius hit Snape who wheeled around with his wand drawn out.

"Of course—" Snaoe began but Remus cut him off with an irritable tone in which he did not bother to try and disguise.

"—it wasn't me," the young werewolf said, looking at his book.

"Don't lie, Lupin," Snape snarled and pointed his wand at Remus.

Remus continued to stare at his book doing his best to ignore Snape. James looked up from his activity and glared right at Snape.

"All right, Snivelly?" James called loudly earning a few sniggers from onlookers.

Snape curled his lip back. "I wasn't talking to you, Potter! How's dear old mummy, Lupin?"

Remus started shaking now with rage, he had never felt so angry in his life. James lifted his wand and pointed it straight at Snape's eyes.

"Say that again," James snarled, his eyes flashed angrily, "I dare you."

"Of course—the boy with an ego too large for his brain. You're the one who always trails after Lily who absolutely despises you," Nsape drawled lazily and smirked, "of course—I already know what she all says about you since I am her best friend."

"Good for you," James sneered, "how much is she being payed?"

Snape's ugly, pallid face flushed red as he raised his wand a little higher. "Any other rejections we should know about?"

"I'd rather not look like I haven't showered in a decade," Jamea flashed back and added with a very prounced smirk, "and at least I can play Quidditch—another talent you lack."

Sirius and Peter roared with laughter, pointing visibly at Snape, who was now trembling with visible rage that seemed to vome off in waves.

"At least I'm not stuck with a useless shadow, another boy with an ego too big for his head, and an orphan," Snape jeered, indicating to his friends.

"Go away," Remus suddenly whispered dangerously, "go now."

"What are you going to do? Drown me in your tears of sorrow?" Snape said with an ugly twisted smile forming at his lips.

"No," Remus said still with his soft tone, "I'll make you regret those words though, that's what I'll do."

Snape's lip curled back. "I dare you to try."

Remus stood rooted to the ground, his wand aimed at Snape, shaking with rage.

"I dare you . . ." Snape said softly, egging him on.

Without warning, light burst from Remus's wand. Snape blocked with a more pronounced sneer and howled with laughter.

"I've improved my dueling skills, Lupin! You are a joke!" Snape hissed, fixing him with a glare.

Remus didn't respond but the red jet of light did for him. Remus sent the spell flying at Snape three more times before Snape blocked all of them again.

"_Stupefy_," Snape said and his wand shot out white light. Remus blocked it and staggered slightly as he failed to completely perform the shield spell.

"_Evarte Statum!_" Remus said with such force it forced him to take a step back when his wand responded.

Snape flicked his wand and blocked the spell. Sirius, James, and Peter realized that Remus and Snape were using spells above the average first year book of Defense magic; they was impressed with Remus. Apparently reading does do you some good.

More jets of red and blue light shot from each wand, dueling until one backed down. Remus was getting more mad every time Snape sent him a victorious smirk when he blocked the oncoming hex.

He launched spell after spell. Snape was forced to take several steps back while Remus walked forward still throwing spells at Snape. A crowd had formed watching intently, their heads turning from Snape to Remus back to Snape.

"You're not going to win, Lupin!" Snape said over the noise, "I'm an expert at Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

As much as James absolutely hated the Dark Arts he could not help but be the slightest impressed with the spells that were invented for the Dark Arts.

"That's not much to brag about," Remus said with a scoff.

Snape continued to block every spell Remus threw at him only angering him more.

"Make one more comment about my parents, you'll regret it and I promise you will!"

Snape seized Remus's hesitance and started firing red and white blurred spells as they mixed together. Snape was no longer firing hexes and jinxes at Remus but curses. He shot two spells one red and one blue and forced them to fuse together making a brilliant purple light. Remus could only throw his arms up to cover his face before being blasted several feet in the air with an explosion of red and yellow light.

Remus staggered to his feet, his eye and cheek were blackened by a nasty bruise and a long gash found itself onto Remus's face. Remus clutched his face and groaned.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!"

A Ravenclaw prefect was storming up to the dueling pair and helped Remus to his feet. Snape stoopped firing curses and glared defiantly.

"What the hell is going on?" the other Ravencalw prefect came to join the fray.

"I don't care if you're going to punish me or whatever!" Remus rounded on the prefect, shocking everybody, Remus was always repectful, "I'm going to defend my parents! Even if their dead!"

The Ravenclaw girl looked understanding and nodded. "It''s his fault—he shouldn't have made those rude comments about your parents."

Snape was to follow the Prefects and sent a look of pure hatred over his shoulder before vanishing around the corner.

Remus was breathing hard and shaking from either grief or rage. He snatched his bag and stormed off to avoid prying eyes from everyone, including his friends.

"Leave me alone," Remus sighed and shrugged them off, "I reckon he's right. Just leave me alone."

James did not feel hurt but worried for his troubled friend but obeyed Remus's orders and stayed behind. He exchanged anxious glances with Peter and Sirius.

Remus was blundering his way across the Quidditch field which was surprisingly empty and sat underneath the bleachers away from the glaring sun and away from everyone's view.

To his surprise he felt a tear of grief and misery fall from his eyes but he hurriedly wiped it away. He was determined not to cry about his losses anymore-it was time that he focused on the present and future more than what was and what could've been.

Remus rummaged through his bag and pulled out his book and flipped it open. Diving into the book, Remus found himself lost in the world of Potions.

Surfacing from the depth of his Potions book, Remus watched the darkening sky with dread. Tomorrow was the full moon-he took potions from Madam Pomfrey for his strength for the exams but he was still worried.

"Right then," Remus muttered to himself and packed up his belongings and headed back to Hogwarts.

Entering, Remus looked around the Great Hall; when his eyes landed on Alice and Lily his stomach flipped. Remus didn't know why either.

"Can I join you?" Remus asked impertuably.

"Of course, how are you?" Sirius asked making room for the young werewolf.

"I'm fine," Remus said suddenly interested in his hands.

"Listen mate, I feel bad for snapping at you and telling you to leave me alone and all that. Look, I know you mean well and I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly."

James silenced him with a hand. "I would've done the same thing."

Remus sighed and tried looking in a different direction as if the previous event had not impact on him.

"Someday this will all end."

Remus soaked in James's words and noticed how beautiful the setting sun was.


	22. Chapter XXIII: Remedial Class

James and Sirius remained in the dormitory (Remus had obliged to help Peter with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Peter muttering darkly about it the whole time). So pass the time, James and Sirius were playing wizards chess.

"Go on! Go on then! It's only a pawn, finish it off!" James encouraged his rook.

"I think Remus is hiding something from us," Sirius said watching his pawn get beheaded by James's rook.

"I think so too," James said and watched Sirius order his king to move forward one.

"I've done some research," Sirius said quietly.

James looked up from the game. "What'd did conclude?"

"Nothing," Sirius said too quickly.

James seemed to notice this for he raised his eyebrow skeptically.

"What?"

"You're my best mate," James said icily, "I know when you lie, especially when you lie to me."

"I wasn't lying," Sirius said testily. James was interrupted by a swinging door; in came Peter.

"Where's Remus?" Sirius asked. Peter mumbled something inaudible recieving a blank stare from Sirius and James.

"Remus is—"

"—here," Remus finished for him glaring at Peter who looked down, wearing a guilty look.

"What happened?" Sirius asked noticing the tension crackling between Remus and Peter.

"I said I'd help Peter but—one, he was purposely late—two, Professor Hilret gave me detention because of how late the lesson began—three, some Hufflepuff girl was doing a spell wrong and _someone_ felt the need to imitate her and did the spell horribly wrong on purpose," Remus said avoiding Peter's gaze.

James suppressed a gasp of surprise. Remus's neck was blackened and sported a long gash.

"What happened to your neck?" James asked. Sirius stopped glaring at Peter to stare at Remus's injury.

"Turns out that 'hex' was a curse. She was practicing dark magic. Professor Hilret warned us both not to attempt it on a real person but it seemed to slip someone's mind. I got docked twenty points and earned detention with him again!" Remus explained coldly.

James ran his finger across the gash; Remus let out a hoarse cry and flinched away, as if James had seared him with hot knives.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Sirius demanded as Remus staggered slightly to the left.

"When you trace the gash, it's a temporary curse. It'll wear off eventually," Remus choked out, he with watering eyes, "enough said—look I'll see you lot later. I've got detention."

"I'm sorry," Peter called after him.

Remus stopped at the door at stared coldly at him. "It"s fine. I guess not all of us can exercise restraint when it comes to mocking one another."

James rounded on Peter when the young werewolf had evacuated.

"I know how much you hated the fact that you needed help but Remus is with you, not against you! He's trying to help!"

"I didn't ask him too!" Peter snapped defiantly.

"You did actually and Remus agreed. Listen, he's trying to help you and you repay him by purposely being late when you know Professor Hilret already hates Remus. You intentionally did the spell wrong just to mock a Hufflepuff after Professor Hilret told you not to practice it on a real person! And Remus took the blame for that too!"

Sirius fixed Peter with an angry glare. "You need to sort out your priorities, I get you don't like the extra help, but still."

James and Sirius walked up to their dormitory waving to Frank on the way leaving Peter behind feeling more miserable. He felt bad for snapping at Remus, he was just tired of having to be looked after constantly; perhaps he would explain that to Remus and clear everything up. So Peter sat in the common room waiting not knowing that James and Sirius were already waiting outside the Gryffindor common room.

After waiting for about three hours, an exhausted Remus came tramping up to them and grinned gratefully at his loyal friends.

"What he did he make you do?" Sirius asked. "You're covered in dry blood, why?"

Remus looked at himself and gave a small chuckle. "Professor Hilret made me do several vigorous tasks."

"Such as?" Sirius pressed curiously looking at the blood that was smeared on Remus's left arm.

"Battle a grindylow, find an injured unicorn in the Forbidden Forest," Remus frowned, "we never did find it. Anyway I found a few bowtruckles and had to hand feed them, mind you they have sharp teeth. I had to corner loads of pixies that wouldn't stop flying around, it's not like I was going to hurt them or anything! Then I had to go save a beached mermaid who wasn't to keen on my asisstance. It kept stabbing me with its trident thing. Professor Hilret kept me busy."

"With unfair and not to mention dangerous tasks!" James said.

"Since when do you care about danger?" Remus asked raising his eyebrow.

"When it's a professor whose making you do this, is when I start to care," James said getting to his feet but Remus wrenched him down.

"I don't think that's a good idea, mate. See, Professor Hilret is in an already bad mood. I don't think he'd appreciate it if you go barging in and started yelling at him."

"Somebody's got to," James muttered making Remus grin.

Remus had worse things on his mind, such as the full moon that was approaching. He wasn't so worried about the tranformation as much as his friends' suspicion. He always felt the familiar pang of guilt everytime he lied to his friends about his condition but he decided to keep it a secret from everyone, even his friends. He hoped that it would stay that way.

"Remus?" Sirius asked, "want to go back to the common room?"

"Sure," Remus said with a shrug and once last glance over his shoulder before proceeding into the Gryffindor common room where he saw Peter asleep in the chair.

"We're angry with him too," James whispered.

Remus didn't say anything but he prodded Peter awake, "should probably sleep in a bed, not a chair."

Peter looked hopeful that Remus was speaking to him again but his expression fell when he saw Remus stride past him without giving him a second glance.

"Remus?" Peter asked timidly.

"Hm?" Remus said roughly.

"I know what I did was wrong," Peter started.

"That's a start," Remus said flatly, "save it Peter. I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I'm not going to listen to your rehearsed apology tonight, all right?"

Peter sighed and nodded silently as Remus continued to walk upstairs with Sirius and James. Peter trailed miserably behind them and drew the curtains closed around his bed to cover up his sore feelings.

Remus, James, and Sirius were all sitting on Remus's bed (which was difficult with Sirius jumping around).

"Sirius! Stop jumping on the bed! I bet Frank wants to sleep," Remus scolded.

"Nah," Frank said with a good-natured grin, "I'm just reading."

"You sound like Remy," James commented. Frank laughed and stuck his nose back in his book.

"Get off my legs, Sirius!" Remus demanded, "they're going numb."

Sirius shifted his position now realizing that he had been, indeed, kneeling on Remus's legs. Remus grimaced and rubbed his sore legs.

"Bugger off, Remus," Sirius pouted.

Remus shrugged. "Technically you're a dog."

Sirius and James both sent him confused glances.

"The constellation Sirius is a dog," Remus explained and James smirked.

"Sirius is a dog!" James chanted.

"I'm not a dog!" Sirius protested indignantly.

"Apparently to Astronomy you are," James said throwing Sirius a more pronounced smirk. Sirius hurled himself at James who bowled into Remus who fell to the floor with a thud.

"SOD OFF YOU GREAT DOG!" Remus gasped as he crashed to the floor.

"I. Am. Not. A. Dog!" Sirius stressed each word with a straining pause.

"No," Remus said sitting up, rubbing his back, "you're a lazy dog."

Sirius waved his hands dramtically. "Does the world hate me?"

"I dunno," Remus said wincing, "you've managed to bruise my whole back though!"

"Good!" Sirius said, "you deserve that, mate."

Remus shot the Black heir a glare.

"Right," Remus said and tried to look indignant, "I'm tired. G'night."

And Remus left his curtains back but pulled the boankets to his head and buried his face in his arms to hide his face and closex his eyes, listening to the quiet sounds of breathing or the noises outside. And soon enough, Remus fell asleep upon his thoughts.


	23. Chapter XXIV: James's Birthday

**The lyrics to the song are from a lot of different songs I discovered.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!"

Three very loud voices screamed directly at James all at once.  
James groaned and slid further into his blankets.

"IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!" Sirius changed in a singsong voice.

"I told you not to bother with my birthday!" James grumbled from his blankets.

Remus ripped off the blankets and beamed down at James. For once, Remus didn't actually look sophisticated—he looked like a regular first year on a weekend.

James sat up and attempted to glare at his friends. "Why do you wake up so early?"

"Because it's your birthday!" Remus said enthusiastically. James noticed that Remus and Peter were talking to each other which was always a good sign.

"Get up, prat!" Sirius said shoving an unexpected James off the bed with a bark-like laugh.

"Ouch! I would've gotten out of bed just fine without you shoving me off!" James said.

"Hurry up! I'm hungry," Sirius complained.

Once James was dressed the four ran downstairs and forced James to sit down.

Remus waved his wand and food began to appear; it was a feast.

"Do you like it?" Remus asked eagerly, "I got your favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods! You can have a little bit of each! I also asked the house-elves if they could make dessert!"

James beamed at his friends.

"Why'd you do all this?" James asked.

"It's your birthday and we three were determined to make it your best birthday!" Sirius said, giving Remus and Peter the thumbs-up.

"Today is a birthday. I wonder for whom?"

"It must be for somebody right in this room!"

"So look all around you for somebody who is smiling and happy! Oh yeah! It's you!"

"We celebrate that you were born today! At least I think we're glad! Are we?"

"YOU'LL STICK BY US NO MATTER HOW INSANE WE MAY BE!"

Remus stopped and paused making James laugh even harder.

"Damn, I forgot the rest of the song, do you guys remember it?"

"Nope," Sirius and Peter said together.

"ANYWAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES! LET'S RAISE OUR GLASSES TO ANOTHER YEAR THAT JAMES HAD LIVED THROUGH!"

The whole Great Hall, with the exception of some of the Slytherins, raised their goblets and erupted in applause and cheers.

James could barely lift his goblet because he was laughing so hard (especially during the song and when Remus swore) and toasted.

"Great song!" James managed to gasp out through his laughter.

"Thanks," Sirius said draining his goblet, "it was a working progress. Remy here came up with the idea of singing you a nice little song."

"You're a great singer, Sirius," James said sarcastically.

Once the four ate their way through three delicious courses, they made their way into the dessert. James's favorite dessert was the cheesecake cupcakes that Remus and Peter had made themselves.

"Well done! Since when were you two bakers?" James asked.

"Eh, we had some help from the house-elves," Remus said sheepishly, "do you honesty think we could have made this ALL by ourselves? Nah, we would've burned down all of Hogwarts."

James laughed.

"Anyway, since it's so nice outside, we're going to fly," Sirius said grinning.

"And Remus is too?" James asked astounded.

"Yes," Remus said, "why wouldn't I?"

"Exams," James said, "you're giving up studying for this? Wow. I feel honored."

"Well, you should," Remus said, "besides I studied before."

"When don't you study?" Fabian asked, one of the two Prewett twins.

"Haven't seen him without a book in ages!" Gideon added.

Remus waved off the comments with his hand and quickly shoved the rest of the food in his mouth, struggling to stand up at the same time.

The Marauders collected their book bags, waved goodbye, and skidded out of the Great Hall and into the empty corridor.

James found his broom leaning against the wall, right before they turned outside, giving him the sneaking suspicion they had all planned this ahead of time. They mounted their brooms and kicked off from the ground and soared into open air, welcoming the wild wind and the warming sun.

"You look pale, Remus," Sirius remarked.

"Probably because I lifted off the ground so fast after I just ate," Remus lied quickly.

"You have a weak stomach mate," James said.

"I'm sure I do," Remus said and nearly fell off when James jabbed him hard in the stomach.

"So what do you want to do?" Sirius asked, "I think we should race again."

"Yeah," Peter said rolling his eyes, "and watch James beat us by a whole lap?"

James scoffed. "I'm not _that _good, Peter."

"You kind of are," Peter muttered.

"Damn!" Remus said earning three surprised glances from his friends.

But Remus paid that no attention and pointed urgently to Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn walking to the Quidditch pitch.

"We need to go, like now," Remus said and instantly tore off with James, Sirius, and Peter right behind him.

Remus looked down and noticed that they were flying over the Forbidden Forest. He was not to make the same mistake of stranding themselves in the forest's depths.

James slowed down making Sirius brake so quickly, James dived and rolled to avoid Sirius's broom. Remus stopped beside Sirius and Peter and looked behind him.

"I don't know if Professor McGonagall saw us," Peter panted, "good eye, Remus."

"Should we turn back?" Sirius asked.

"And get caught? Yeah right," James muttered but his eyes betrayed the fun he was having.

"I dunno," Remus said slowly, pushing up his jacket's sleeves up to his elbows, "she's going to notice our disappearance."

"What happened to your arm?" James asked now shocked.

"Hm?" Remus said absentmindedly and was looking behind him. Only did he reel his attention back to his friends when James flew up to him and grabbed his arm making Remus jump.

"What happened?" James frowned and traced a scar that ran from his wrist to elbow.

Remus was unconsciously tugged at his sleeves. "I think we ought to stay around here for a bit."

With one last tug at his sleeves Remus flew forward. James was so frustrated he forgot that they were hovering about 30 feet in the air. He zipped past Sirius and Peter and came to a halt in front of Remus making the young werewolf stop so abruptly he slipped off the side of his broom.

"Blimey!" James said and hurtled after Remus and caught him around the waist and with the help from Sirius, he was able to get Remus hoisted on his broom.

"Sorry, mate," James said sheepishly.

"A fair warning would be nice!" Remus said as Peter flew down with Remus's broom. After transferring broom Remus dusted his shirt defiantly.

"Sorry," James sighed, running a hand through his messy hair ruffling it even more. "I forgot we were on brooms for a minute."

Remus waved off James's apology. "Whatever. Oi, look."

He pulled out some strange disk Sirius nor James had ever seen but Peter looked delighted.

"I love frisbees! Throw it!"

Remus chucked it as far as he could and watched Peter fly after it. The disk whirled into Peter's direction and with a single whip of his hand, Peter caught it and threw it back. Remus veered to the left and downward as the frisbee directed itself downward. With a single try, he caught it and flew back to a confused Sirius and James.

"This is something muggles play with when they're outside. It's not quite like the Franged Frisbee."

Soon enough the four were throwing the frisbee making each other zoom after it.

"Anyone hungry? We skipped lunch and now I regret not eating," Sirius asked.

They've been playing with the frisbee and other muggle items (such as a peculiar neon yellow ball Remus called a tennis ball).

"I am!" James said.

"Me too," Peter added.

"I'm famished," Remus said for the first time.

The four slowly made their way back to the Quidditch pitch and made sure there wasn't anyone around before flying above the field and weaving among the roofs of Hogwarts. Remus loved the freedom of flying. Once they were hovering in front of the dormitory, they saw Frank and wrapped on the window.

Startled, Frank looked in awe at the four boys who sat on the brooms. He tried pushing the window open from the inside but couldn't so he gestured to the common room window. So the four flew down to the Gryffindor common room window and peered inside. There sat two girls, Lily Evans and Alice Prewett and Frank who was jogging down the stairs. He jabbed the window and it opened. They had difficulty flying inside the small window but managed to sneak their brooms back upstairs.

"We should have just left the brooms under the stands," Remus said.

"And risk getting this broom stolen? No way!" Sirius said. James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius walked down to the Great Hall and ate the rest of the food the house-elves kindly made. The dinner was especially nice with the chocolate cake that was served afterward. They joked and laughed, the exhausted mood from exams were lifted. There was laughter, happiness, and the atmosphere was cheerful once again.

Even the professors looked slightly less uptight and more joyful.

The Marauders were laughing about their arrival at Hogwarts, how they became friends, their pranks, and a lot more. One joke, James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus were laughing so hard, James fell off the bench and was gasping for air. Peter who had fallen off the bench and was clutching his sides. Remus had tried to sober up but then burst out laughing again at Sirius's joke.

Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter were all walking up to the common room feeling more upbeat and happy then they had since exams were creeping up on them. Remus looked at the sinking and waved off his friends; he made his way to the hospital wing and met Madam Pomfrey.

"You listened," she said in a mildly surprised tone that made Remus raise his eyebrow.

"I always have," Remus said and started unraveling the hidden bandages around his ankle. She bent down to look and tutted loudly. She magicked him new bandages that were clean. He was forced to drink yet another vile potion until he was released.

The entire time he walked to the Tower, his mind kept going back to his demon and for the first time felt nothing but a strong desire to see it again.

"Is this how it'll be?" Remus asked softly to himself and sighed, closing his eyes and letting the potion course through him.


	24. Chapter XXV: Exams

**HARRY POTTER IS NOT MINE.**

Three of the four Marauders were sitting at the table in the Great Hall with the rest of the Gryffindors. Although everything seemed to be normal, The Marauders were missing their fourth man, Remus Lupin. The first year seemed to be disappearing more often or perhaps it seemed like that because they had finally noticed how much their friend was not with them.

"Remus never returned," James said in a fretful voice, casting a concerned gaze over the students.

"Madam Pomfrey's gone too," Sirius said as he followed James's gaze to the Head table in the front of the Great Hall where the professors sat.

Peter, James, and Sirius finished their food rather quickly and packed up their things, leaving the rest without another word and ignoring the confused expressions they were receiving.

But they traveled around the length of Hogwarts, patrolling corridor after corridor with the same failing feeling whenever the corridors were empty. They had searched nearly the entire building inside and out looking for Remus. The three started to panic, breaking out into a light jog, they circled each floor in turn.

But Peter stopped James and pointed at someone who was walking around a corner as if they did not want to talk to anyone. James, Sirius, and Peter ran up to them and blinked in mild surprise until realization dawned on the three.

"Madam Pomfrey!" James exclaimed, looking at her with greater surprise.

She smiled grimly at James who's eyes widened. Madam Pomfrey was covered sweat and dry blood as if she came back from battle. She turned to James with an expression of mingled shock and exhaustion.

"What happened?" Sirius asked joining James.

"Remus was found at the base of the Whomping Willow. Someone attacked him," Madam Pomfrey said, who was not lying this time. She wiped her hands on her apron and stowed her wand away.

"What?" Peter demanded in disbelief and confusion.

"He's still lying there, Professor Dumbledore is coming."

James, Sirius, and Peter now sprinted, flat out, to the Whomping Willow. James's legs were screaming but he only ran faster; the students became a blur as he burst outside. In the distance, a little ways off, he saw a small figure at the base of the flailing branches of the Whomping Willow. Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Hilret all stood in a circle around the body but they turned around when they heard three boys approaching.

"What happened, sir?" James asked Professor Dumbledore.

"It seems like someone was after Remus," Professor Dumbledore said softly, his blue eyes examining the area.

"I'm merely trying to find out what spells were used against this boy," Professor Hilret said tensely as his eyes bore into James's.

"I need to tell his cousin," Professor McGonagall said, pulling out her wand then added to Professor Dumbledore, "bring him up the hospital wing. Poppy said she has remedies that'll help."

Dumbledore conjured a stretcher with his own wand and rested Remus on top of it. The young werewolf stirred and tried raising his head but groaned with the pain and fell back, flopping back down.

"Remus!" Sirius said angrily and glared at his friend.

Remus opened his eyes and lifted his head again, looking back at his friend with an expression that looked indignant and guarded, though he kept his face straight. Remus was pale and exhausted and his eyes lost the fire that was usually flaring in his blue eyes.

"Hey," Remus said weakly, raising his eyebrow at Sirius's set expression. James, too, wanted to pound his friend into oblivion but he restrained himself and continued to observe his injured friend.

"What happened?" Peter demanded, his face was also pale but clearly for a different reason.

"I-I dunno," Remus rasped and frowned slightly, wiping the smallest amount of blood from his mouth with his sleeve. James gripped Remus's shoulder tightly which made the young werewolf wince.

"We'll be right here," James said hoarsely, finding his voice at last. Remus tried to smile at his friend in a gesture of gratitude and understanding, but the effort seemed to much for he slipped into unconsciousness again, leaving his friends in a state of worry.

The next time Remus woke up, he was in a comortable bed but for some reason he was out of his Hogwarts robes though he still wore the same pants and he could tell for they felt stiff with dry blood. He looked around the hospital wing in search of anybody then turned to the right; he did a double take when he saw three familiar faces and he Remus was convinced he jumped at least three feet in the air.

"Are you all right, Remus?" James asked with concern etched in his paled face.

"No," Remus said, steadying his breathing rate and rubbing his eyes wearily, "I just had a heart attack."

James smiled weakly but tried to look serious. "I'm glad you finally woke up."

Remus frowned, suddenly sitting up much quicker. "What? 'Finally'? What do you mean? I feel like I have only been asleep for a few hours."

"You've been out for more than twelve, Remus, twelve hours. I don't know what happened. They said someone attacked you or something," Peter said jumping to his feet and getting the glass of water Remus was trying to get.

"Thanks," Remus said and paused to drink, "and I don't remember much. It's kind of a blur to me."

"What do you remember though?" James pressed urgently; his three friends leaned closer in sharp interest.

Remus looked in any other direction to avoid his friends' eyes and tried buying his time by fixing his covers and straightening his shirt. And finally he shook his head, looking directly at his friends.

"I feel like you're lying but—"

"—but I'm not," Remus interjected and consciously pulled down his jacket's sleeves over his elbows and cleared his throat uncertainly.

Remus still continued to look away, puling nervously at his jacket's sleeves.

Madam Pomfrey came in perfect timing, saving the first year from saying anything else. He let out a silent sigh of relief as she stepped in and shooed the boys away for a moment to set down a bottle of a potion that Remus was sure was a remedy.

"Are you all right, Lupin?"

"I'm fine," Remus said shortly and tore his eyes away from the bottle, "can I leave?"

"I will say yes _but_ you need to exercise precaution, Lupin. Is that clear? And if I catch wind that you are off doing the extreme, you will answer to me," Madam Pomfrey said seriously.

"One hundred percent clear," Remus said rather hotly.

He swung his legs over and jumped out of the bed and walked briskly out the door, hoping to avoid any more interrogation. Though his friends followed, waving to Madam Pomfrey on their way out. Remus wanted to do nothing more than to change his blood-soaked pants and lie down to rest but he knew it would only raise suspicion.

And on Remus's left, walked James, who was absorbed in his own thoughts. And as much as he strongly desired to ask more questions, he knew he should not press the matter so he had no choice but to drop the subject.

"Where are we headed?" Peter asked, falling in step with Remus and Sirius.

Sirius shrugged and stole a quick glance at Remus who seemed to be talking quietly to James as if they did not want to be overheard. Sirius felt his eyebrow raise on its own as his friends were nodding and whispering.

"We're thinking of going to the lake," James said out loud and louder when the two stopped talking so secretively. Sirius was about to ask why they had to discuss that between them only but decided not to dwell on the matter; he and Peter nodded enthusiastically.

* * *

In the next day James found himself sitting with just Sirius who was staring absentmindedly out the window. Remus and Peter had gone somewhere else to study last minute before their exams began. Even James had a book cracked open but he wasn't reading it.

Remus was sitting right outside the Great Hall, leaning against the wall, and reading his Potions book before his exams started. He was reviewing all the ingredients to make a sleeping potion when students started filing out and walking to their classes. That was his cue to leave. Remus was already in the classroom by the time James and Sirius walked into the corridor in search of him.

"He's good at disappearing," Sirius mumbled and made their way to the Dungeons.

There they saw Remus sitting next to Peter; the two were immersed in a conversation but stopped when the exam began. Peter was turning paler and sweating more.

"Can you pass me the bat wings?" Peter whispered.

"You're hand's all sweaty," Remus whispered back as he slipped the ingredient into his hand.

Peter went back to concentrating on his brew. Remus was the first to finish and the first to actually manage to impress Professor Hayes. Sirius and James both finished with ease, feeling confident. The three cleaned up their work area and waited quietly for the rest to finish.

"Five more minutes," Professor Hayes announced walking around. Peter's face was contorted with concentration, squinting his eyes and using his wand occasionally to stir the potion then stopping when he noticed that he was stirring it the wrong way. Five minutes later (ten minutes later in Remus's mind) Professor Hayes waved his wand and all the cauldrons lifted into the air and in a row beside his desk.

"Off to your next exam."

But again, Remus had collected his books and his bag and left the room before James and Sirius could interrogate him further.

"It's like he's avoiding us!" James whispered to Sirius as they exited the dark room.

"I dunno what's wrong with him," Sirius said with slight frown, "I think he's trying to give a silent message to us. Maybe we should just leave him alone or something."

"But he's hiding something," James said and looked ahead, feeling slightly crestfallen.

"I know," Sirius said quickly, "if he won't tell us then we'll figure it out ourselves."

James heaved a sigh and walked to their next destination. Exams went by slowly and for Peter, the exams seemed to become increasingly difficult even though James insisted that it wasn't so bad and he was overexaggerating.

"Sure they're tiring, Peter," James reasoned fairly, "but they're not _that _hard. You make them sound like they're N.E.W.T level exams."

Peter groaned at the thought of O. .

Remus was leaning against the wall with a book in his hands. He seemed to be reading the same line for ihs eyes were not moving. Peter was the first to approach him and tap him on the shoulder. Remus jumped and dropped his book, wand drawn and eyes flashing with alarm.

Peter put his hands up in surrender. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Please don't hex me."

Remus sagged and stowed his wand away. He looked older and exhausted. His eyes were dull, his face was drained of its little color, and he looked thinner.

"Sorry Peter," Remus said. His voice seemed weary and drained from its natural strength. He bent down to retrieve his book and winced when his did.

"Are you all right?" Peter asked, scrutinizing his friend with a serious gaze.

"Yes," Remus answered shortly.

"You look a bit peaky," Peter commented.

"Do I?" Remus asked and started walking away.

"Yes."

"I'm not."

"But . . ."

"I probably look worse than I feel."

"Remus, you seem more distant and jumpy. What's happening to you?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure that it's nothing?"

"Yes."

Remus was brusque with Peter giving him short replies. Peter fell back and allowed Remus his space and trailed after him a few paces behind. He couldn't help but notice Remus's limp.

When the last of the exams were drawing nearer, the three noticed Remus's absence at the Great Hall during lunch.

"What is wrong with that one?" James growled, "why does he shut us out? Does he know that we're on his side? What is he so afraid of?"

Sirius and Peter both shrugged.

James narrowed his eyes. "Remus hasn't heard the last of it."

**Thank you for reading! It means a lot to me. I appreciate each and every one of you!**


	25. Chapter XVI: On the Way Back

Waking up to his friends made Remus feel all the much better but this morning was different. First, The Marauders woke up much earlier with realization hitting them right when they awoke. It was their last morning at Hogwarts until next year when they returned as second years. And secondly, for the first time, they woke up but did not start immediately talking to one another, instead they got ready in silence for they were absorbed in their own thoughts. But one thing they had in common was the thought that their very first year at Hogwarts went by too quickly for them to grasp.

They pulled on their Hogwarts shirts and ties but left their Hogwarts robes on their beds, in one last act of mischief before they departed for the summer. It seemed like the day was going to fast already for the sun seemed to be racing up the warm summer's sky. The party of four walked out of their dormitory and slowly down the winding stairs until they reached the portrait hole.

The Fat Lady seemed to be in her normal brisk mood but when she saw the boys she nodded warmly, giving them a kind welcome. The four returned the friendly gesture and walked in silence down the three flights of stairs until they reached the corridor that led them to the Great Hall. Mops and brooms were sweeping by themselves, evidently cleaning the halls for the summer.

James was the first to break the silence as they entered the Great Hall, which was filled with minimal people for they were not up yet.

"This year went by so quickly," James said with a shake of his head, scoffing in disbelief.

"And think about it," Sirius added, sitting down and motioning his friends to do the same, "we'll come back here next year as second years. I'm sad this year is over but I think it's exciting that we'll be second years."

"An entire year just came and passed," Peter said, setting his book bag on the table and pulling out his books, "wonder what we'll be learning next year, eh? This year was interesting and all but I'm interested in the extent in magic."

"That's something Remus would say," James said in mock surprise and flashed Remus a grin of amusement who returned it equally.

"I suppose I can't argue there," Remus said but rummaged through his book bag until he pulled out a book with a cover James, Sirius, nor Peter recognized. He set it on the table and slid it over to James's side.

"Of course," James said after a short pause and smiled, "you are doing second year spells in Transfiguration. I was wondering why you were able to perform some of the spells I haven't heard of yet."

"You can learn," Remus said simply, packing the book away again, "you could have just asked me if you could have read it and practiced—the spells are very doable. They're not very hard."

"Speak for yourself," Peter mumbled and used the excuse for not talking by taking a large sip of the cold pumpkin juice that was on the table. Though the other three were busy pouring themselves their own glasses to reply to Peter's statement.

Much to Remus's disappointment, their short time talking was interrupted as students started filing in—in large groups—as students were waking, indicating that an hour or so had past.

They were scarfing down their food as fast as possible and swallowed it down with two glasses of pumpkin juice and marmalade. Afterwards, they rushed out of the Great Hall, glad to get away. Their book bags were swinging wildly as they ran down another flight of stairs and welcoming the warm breeze that blew from the courtyard. Passing it, they ran towards the entrance they took for the first time they stepped into the building.

"And this is where it started, eh?" Sirius asked, looking at the grand double doors. They sat on the nearest bench, talking about whatever came to their minds—their conversation went everywhere but it finally ceased to an end when Frank Longbottom came up and smiled at them.

"That was a fun year," Frank said and looked at his shoes, "I hope we talk more. I feel like I should get to know you four more."

"Likewise," The Marauders chorused and watched as Frank detached himself from them and scurried out the doors that were now open, letting in the warm summer draft from outside.

The Marauders followed at a slower pace, being one of the first to see the Hogwarts Express and Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid. The half-giant waved heartily at them but frowned when he saw the first years' expressions.

"Wha's wrong?" Hagrid asked, coming over to talk to them. "Don' forget yeh're comin' back next year—it's not yer las' day."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all beamed at Hagrid who returned it, looking pleased with himself for coming up with such wise words. They waved goodbye as they climbed into the Hogwarts Express. The familiar compartments were empty so they took the first one and shut the door behind them.

The train started moving and Remus watched through the window until Hogwarts had disappeared out of sight and for some reason he did not feel any sadder for he knew that he was coming back next year.

"I know what you're thinking," James said.

"Hm?" Remus asked absentmindedly as he turned his attention to James.

"Not going back to your mother—I know Remus—we know it's hard," James replied and looked at him with raised eyebrows. Remus looked mildly surprised for it as if James had read his mind. He only murmured in a reply for he really did not know what to say.

But as time went, the whole train ride home, the four boys were laughing and joking around. Remus was good at acting as if nothing was wrong. The cold pumpkin juice was just what Remus needed but as soon as the train came rounding the corner, it slowed to a halt and revealed all the happy and waiting parents and families. Remus suddenly felt his spirits sink again as his eyes automatically scanned the crowd for his mother until he remembered.

They were among the first to departure; the crowd of eager parents were making him dizzy all over again and was about to insist that they turn around and walk out of the crowd until he picked out a familiar face and saw Caden, the familiar face of his cousin he had once met through his mother.

"Come on," Sirius said and nudged Remus forward.

Remus could tell Sirius was there for support but the young werewolf could tell the Black heir was doing his best to avoid his own parents; with ease, Remus was able to pinpoint the Black family parents—they wore a superior expression as they surveyed the area with mingled disgust and loathe.

But Sirius also wanted to make sure Remus was situated and comfortable before he headed off to his dreaded mother. So he, James, Peter, and Remus towed their trunks slowly behind them, but Sirius and James moved in front of Remus, giving Peter and him more room to walk.

"I really appreciate you guys coming but you don't have to. I bet your ready to go off and enjoy the summer. Honestly—don't feel obliged to help me find Caden. I trust her and everything. I can handle it. Don't feel—"

"Remus," James cut in, rolling his eyes at the rambling werewolf, "relax—you'd do the same for us so why not let us return the favor?"

Remus smiled gratefully at his friends, feeling a rush of fondness towards them as they continued to help Remus find his cousin. They began to walk in a more of a brisk manner until they reached the end of the crowd where a woman stood, leaning against the brick pillar.

Caden had thick black hair that fell to her shoulders and sharp gray eyes but in spite of her harsh appearance, she had a kind smile and wrapped Remus in an unexpected hug.

"How was your first year at Hogwarts?" Caden asked fondly, looking down at Remus and taking his trunk from him.

"It was great," Remus said and smiled uneasily, "I enjoyed it."

"That's always good," Caden said then stood up. She smiled past Remus's shoulder, making him look behind him. The first impression he had of the man standing behind him was intimidation but looking past his tense stance, he had warm eyes.

"Remus, this is Dorian. He's with me now," Caden explained once she caught Remus's confused expression. She smiled affectionately at Dorian who returned the smile; she slid past Remus and his friends to stand next to him.

"That's wonderful," Remus said and looked at the ground awkwardly.

"I think we've been standing around here long enough," Caden said and turned to Remus's friends, "I really appreciate you helping Remus finding us. I hope you found your year as enjoyable as his—and I hope you have a good summer."

"Thanks," James and Sirius chorused whilst Peter nodded silently.

The three turned to Remus and looked at him somberly. He was about to ask what they wanted to say but each gave Remus a hug in turn before stepping back. Remus raised his eyebrow.

"That was a great year," James said and flashed his friends a grin, "but I think each year will be better than the next, eh?"

"Definitely," Sirius said and patted James on the shoulder, "I'll see you lot later—that's a promise."

Remus waved goodbye as he watched his friends melt back into the crowd with their trunks and owl cages. He felt longing for his mother but he turned to face Caden and Dorian who looked right back at him. Determined to continue his life, he forced a smile and nodded at Caden who held out her arm. And for the first time in the longest time he could remember, Remus felt at peace as he looked over his shoulder at the Hogwarts Express, realizing that he was not really going home—his home was wherever his friends were and he never felt any surer of anything else.


	26. Side Note

**I thoroughly enjoyed writing this fanfiction story. I was never a very talented creative writer. It got long, it got boring, it had grammar errors (I will improve in next story, I promise), it was irrelevant but it was fun (to write). I hope anyone who read this enjoyed this story—and I hope to write more.**

**Also, I was never good at these Author's Notes so I did not really bother. I decided to say whatever I needed to at the end of this story and this will occur for every fanfiction I write.**

**THANK YOU! I HOPE LIFE FOR YOU IS GOOD!**


End file.
